Reached  Mr.  C.  T.  Studd 
in  the  Heart  of  Africa 


Published  by 

HEART  OF  AFRICA  MISSION 

222  WEST  23d  STREET 
NEW  YORK 


How  Leslie  Sutton  and  his  Banjo 
Reached  Mr.  C.  T.  Studd 
in  the  Heart  of  Africa 


C.  T.  STUDD 


This  Booklet  is  Published  by  the  American  Branch 
of  the  Heart  of  Africa  Mission.  Additional 
copies  may  be  had,  price  50  cents 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/howlesliesuttonhOOsutt 


World  Wide  Evangelization  Crusade 

AND 

Heart  of  Africa  Mission 


Co-founders 

Mr.  C.  T.  Studd 
Mr.  A.  B.  Buxton,  m.a. 

Honorary  Secretary 

Mrs.  C.  T.  Studd 

Honorary  Treasurer  for  Great  Britain 

Mr.  H.  Aveling  Baker 

Home  Overseer 

Rev.  Gilbert  Barclay 

General  Organising  Secretary  for  America  and  Canada 

Miss  C.  J.  Brandon 

Hotel  Chelsea,  New  York  City 
Honorary  Treasurer  for  America 

Dr.  George  H.  Dowkontt 

113  Fulton  Street,  New  York  City 

Object: 

The  Evangelization  of  every  fart  of  the  Unevangelized 
World  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  beginning  zeith  the  Heart 
of  Africa. 


Churches  and  friends  desiring  to  hear  more  of  the  work 
of  the  Mission  are  invited  to  write  to  Miss  Brandon,  General 
Organizing  Secretary,  Heart  of  Africa  Mission,  222  West 
23rd  Street,  New  York. 


Magazine  published  six  times  a  year.  Price  50  cents  per  annum. 


IF  nr  four  prayer  Sint 

* 

GDur  fRuumnutru's  in  tlje  Heart  nf  Afrira 

Mr.  C.  T.  Studd 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Buxton 
Miss  G.  Brom burger 
Miss  L.  Dennis  (Nurse 
Mr.  H.  H.  Jenkinson 
Mr.  H.  Leslie  Sutton 
Mr.  S.  J.  Stanifortit 
Mr.  A.  W.  Ruscoe 
Miss  Chapman 
Miss  E.  Roijpell 
Miss  E.  Kimber 
Miss  Cocouerel 
Miss  A.  Cocquerel 
Mrss  Renn 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  W.  Davies 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Norman  Grubb 
Mr.  G.  Ambrose 


ON  FURLOUGH 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lowder . . . In  England 

Nurse  Arnall . . . . . ....In  England 


EN  ROUTE 

Richard  R.  Hipp — Sailed  from  New  York,  May,  1921. 

Sailed  from  England,  October,  1921. 

Sent  by  the  Memorial  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


E.  Tatt 

A.  S.  Wilkinson  >  Sailed  from  England  October,  1921. 
A.  Voyle  \ 


Mr.  W.  S.  Pontier  and  Miss  M.  Yeths — 
Sailing  January,  1922. 

Sent  by  South  Brooklyn  Gospel  Church,  N.  Y. 


Many  other  candidates  in  training,  both  in  America  and 

Great  Britain. 


Headquarters  : 

15-17  Highland  Road, 

Upper  Norwood,  S.  E.  19, 
London,  England 


American  Headquarters: 
Room  622, 

Hotel  Chelsea, 

New  York  City. 


How  Leslie  Sutton  and  His  Banjo  Reached 
Mr.  C.  T.  Studd  in  the  Heart 
of  Africa 


Paris,  February  24th,  1920. 

We  had  a  most  zvonderful  send-off  from  Waterloo,  more 
than  a  hundred  people  —  such  prayer  and  enthusiasm — you 
would  have  loved  to  have  been  there.  We  had  seven  registered 
baggages,  and  nine  small  ones  with  us  ( including  the  banjo). 
Very  easy  journey.  We  arrived  at  the  boat  at  about  11  p.  m. 
and  went  straight  on  hoard,  and  after  some  hot  tea  and  sand¬ 
wiches  from  our  grub-basket,  we  turned  in  very  happy  and 
thankful.  The  Customs  have  worried  us  three  times  so  far, 
but  very  little.  They  usually  pick  on  that  green  bag  of  mine, 
which  is  very  harmless  (socks  and  shirts),  and  off  we  go. 
Brekker  on  board  and  then  off  again  to  the  Havre  Customs — 
very  pleasant  crossing,  but  I  did  not  sleep  much.  Funny,  fat 
porters  all  over  the  place.  Dear  old  things,  but  all  on  the 
“Make  haste” — think  you  don’t  know  the  value  of  a  franc — 
funny  old  gendarmes  with  huge  moustachios  and  a  continual 
eye  on  the  advantage  of  “No.  1.”  The  general  impression  of 
France,  except  in  the  middle  of  Paris  is  just  one  word — 
“shabby”- — after  England.  Little  towns  seem  to  have  no  muni¬ 
cipal  pride  and  respect — unswept  and  filthy. 

We  have  a  very  nice  room  at  this  place — will  have  dinner 
here  at  6.30  and  then  two  hours’  rest,  and  then  on  to  Genoa 
at  9.30.  Change  and  Customs  at  Modane,  where  we  push  into 
Italy.  Reach  Genoa  about  noon  tomorrow  (Wednesday).  So 
far  have  got  on  wonderfully,  not  a  hitch  anywhere.  Mrs. 
*C.  T.  fitted  us  with  a  splendid  basket  and  heaps  of  grubbing 
material  and  hot  tea.  The  boys  are  splendid  and  do  every¬ 
thing  to  save  extra  arranging,  etc. — strictest  accounts  of  ex¬ 
pense  have  to  be  kept — which  with  exchanges — France,  Italy 


Mr.  Leslie  Sutton’s  companions  on  the  journey  were  Mr.  George 
Ambrose  and  Mr.  Herbert  Jenkinson.  They  sailed  from  London  Feb¬ 
ruary  23rd,  1920,  and  are  now  preaching  Salvation  through  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  Heart  of  Africa. 


Mrs.  C.  T.  Studd. 


7 


and  Egypt,  and  having  cash  of  the  previous  country  over  to 
exchange  is  not  very  easy.  We  go  well  together  and  in  great 
rejoicing. 

“When  He  putteth  forth  His  sheep,  He  gocth  before  them." 
*  *  * 


Genoa,  February  26th,  4  p.  m. 

Your  prayers  and  those  of  all  the  dear  Saints  have  been 
and  will  be  abundantly  answered.  We  have  reached  Genoa 
without  a  hitch,  just  full  of  beans.  We  had  a  very  easy 
journey  from  Paris  to  Modane;  made  tea  on  spirit  stove 
and  had  three  cups  each,  sandwiches  and  fruit.  The  natives 
were  amused  at  the  way  we  made  ourselves  so  at  home.  Very 
cosy  P.L.M.  carriages.  Modane  is  on  the  French-Italian 
frontier,  so  full  of  customs  and  French  Army,  etc. 

We  had  lunch  at  the  station — queer  Italian  soup,  yellow  and 
thick  with  sago.  I  should  think  it’s  highly  nutritous  but  it’s 
dreadful  to  take ;  also  long  macaroni.  The  “Boys”  would  have 
preferred  roast  beef.  We  got  a  crowded  train  for  Turin — 
simply  wonderful  scenery.  Italian  Alps  all  snow-covered ; 
lost  in  the  clouds;  bright  blue  sky;  heaps  of  tunnels.  Our 
admiration  was  rather  sleepy,  1  fear,  but  we  insisted  on  keep¬ 
ing  awake.  It  is  so  wonderful. 

A  nice  little  porter  met  us  at  Turin  and  we  were  whisked 
into  another  train.  Here  1  changed  twenty-five  dollars  for 
360  lire,  and  all  my  accounts  are  in  another  coinage.  It’s  quite 
an  art,  reckoning  up  how  much  one  needs  before  you  are 
through  a  particular  country,  also  to  persuade  them  to  give 
you  the  correct  change — unless  it’s  a  Government  place. 

We  had  quite  a  nice  journey  to  Genoa — four  nationalities, 
all  insisting  on  eating  their  own  particular  tit-hits.  “Les 
trois  pauvres  Anglais,”  as  a  dear  old  dame  called  us,  meat 
sandwiches  and  tangerines ;  two  Italians,  brown  bread  and 
something  strange  in  strips ;  a  large  German,  a  large  roll  and 
a  Frankfort  sausage  (throwing  the  rind  about  trying  to  hit  the 
window)  ;  the  Italians  wanted  to  go  to  war  about  it  again  ; 
the  old  dame  and  fille,  fruit  and  rolls,  and  red  wine.  We  all 
examined  each  other  and  sat  back  satisfied  we  were  what  we 
were,  remarking  what  strange  folks  we  do  meet,  and  rolled 
into  Genoa  about  10  A.  m.  very  satisfied. 

I  positively  couldn’t  get  less  than  three  porters  to  take  our 
luggage  across  the  square  to  the  Hotel  Savoie;  they  cluster 
round  like  hawks,  and  then  line  up  with  their  dirty  hands  out 
for  lire,  trying  to  score  you  by  jabbering  Italian  loud  and  fast 
into  giving  more  than  you  should.  The  beds  were  lovely — 

8 


cool  and  soft.  We  slept  like  tops,  and  felt  very  refreshed 
this  morning.  After  an  excellent  breakfast,  we  interviewed 
the  shipping  people  re  our  berths  on  the  Milano— a.  funny 
old  clerk  who  couldn’t  speak  English — but  waved  our  arms 
about  a  bit  and  he  understood  thoroughly  all  we  had  to  tell 
him.  We  get  our  traps  on  board  tomorrow,  Friday,  about 
3.00  p.  m.,  and  sail  in  the  evening.  I  believe  we  call  at 
Naples,  if  so,  we’ll  drop  cards,  etc.,  and  let  you  know.  I  hope 
we  do.  I’ve  long  wanted  to  see  it.  *Norman  says  it’s  a  filthy 
place,  but  it  looks  nice  from  a  long  way  off. 

Genoa  is  a  lovely  place  and  the  shop-people  are  real  nice 
to  us  and  laugh  at  us  no  end;  it  is  such  fun  trying  to  make 
them  understand.  Our  next  spasm  is  Egypt,  but  English  folk 
are  fairly  common  there  so  we’ll  have  no  trouble.  Things 
are  comparatively  cheap  here.  The  lire — 25  for  five  dollars 
pre-war  is  now  60  to  the  dollar — so  everything  is  cheap  to  us, 
i.  e.,  60  lire  go  very  much  further  than  forty  dollars  in  living 
values. 

*  *  *  * 

On  Board  S.S.  Milano,  Anchored  at  Naples 

Sunday,  February  29th,  1920. 

Here  we  are  at  Naples  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  very 
sorry  we  are — we  had  a  few  hours  in  the  town  this  morning— 
it  is  simply  filthy — some  of  the  suburbs  on  the  hills  look  better 
and  cleaner  but  the  city  itself  is  vile.  The  sa}dng  “see  Naples 
and  then  die”  must  have  originated  half  a  century  ago — for 
there’s  nothing  to  die  about  now  except  dirt  and  disease — no 
municipal  order  or  pride.  The  place  reeks  of  every  vile  thing 
imaginable — no  sanitation.  The  most  humble  English  town 
would  be  ashamed  to  be  seen  in  such  a  state.  This  is  not 
written  from  the  solely  utilitarian  point  of  view — there  are 
beautiful  buildings,  but  they  are  filthy  inside  and  out.  IVe  talk 
about  Sabbath-breaking  in  England,  but  it’s  heavenly  com¬ 
pared  until  a  Continental  Sunday.  Everyone  working — and  a 
general  market  day — wagons  and  drays — no  difference  from 
week  days  except  an  occasional  bell  for  Mass  at  the  churches, 
all  of  which  are  just  as  dirty  as  everything  else.  In  fact  some 
were  simply  unspeakably  filthy. 

Genoa  is  really  beautiful  compared  with  it.  It  has  fine 
hotels,  good  shops,  imposing  squares,  and  it  is  kept  fairly 
clean.  Don’t  see  Naples  when  you  begin  to  move  about. 


*  Norman  P.  Grubb. 


9 


Fairhaven,  March  1st,  1920. 

You  will  lie  wondering  what  kind  of  a  time  we  had  on 
hoard  since  Naples.  Well,  these  wretched  Italian  boats  are 
small  and  uncomfortable  and  badly  built,  which  means  unnec¬ 
essary  pitching  even  on  the  Mediterranean. 

You  would  have  been  very  amused  to  have  seen  our  mixed 
company.  We  were  the  only  English  on  board.  We  gave 
most  of  them  nick-names.  A  Roumanian  lady  we  called  Miss 
Vesusius  (who  spoke  nine  languages  and  couldn’t  read  or 
write),  was  very  good  to  us.  Seven  R.  C.  brothers  in  black 
robes,  eight  R.  C.  sisters,  three  Capuchin  Monks,  several  Zion¬ 
ists  going  back  to  Jerusalem,  Italian  journalists,  French  com¬ 
mercials,  two  Greeks  going  home  after  making  their  fortune 
in  America  (during  the  war).  These  latter,  great  black-whis¬ 
kered  men  like  brigands;  we  were  scared  of  them  at  first.  The 
steerage  was  full  of  all  sorts  of  queer  things:  natives,  Gippos, 
Syrians,  Arabs,  and  the  smell  that  came  up  from  the  steerage 
hatch  was  undesirable. 

We  were  very  fortunate  on  our  arrival  at  Alexandria.  You 
will  have  heard  that  when  a  boat  arrives  it  is  overwhelmed  by 
a  horde  of  natives,  shouting  and  soliciting  employment,  etc. 
The  ship  is  simply  a  moving  mass  of  native  porters  struggling 
with  luggage;  add  to  this  Egyptian  Customs  Officers,  and  a 
few  military  people  who  thoroughly  inspect  you  and  your  pass¬ 
port,  etc.,  and  you  have  the  scene  of  excitement  we  were  in. 
But  we  collared  the  only  Cook’s  man  in  the  landscape,  and 
he  was  priceless.  He  chivvied  the  native  porters  about  like 
nothing  on  earth  and  we  seemed  to  slide  through  where  other 
unfortunates  were  struggling  hours  after. 

We  rushed  to  the  Custom  House  and  there  for  the  first 
time  our  things  were  routed  out  a  bit.  A  most  objectionable 
Gippo  turned  out  my  new  pajamas  and  body  belt,  and  the 
brute  wanted  to  charge  me  duty  because  they  were  new.  After 
much  waving  of  arms  and  explaining,  pointing  out  the  name 
and  marking,  etc.,  we  got  through  without  any  charge.  So 
we  all  hopped  into  a  barouche  and  got  to  the  car  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  after  the  ship  came  into  Alexandria — 
some  rush.  An  eight  mile  run  out  here,  nearly  to  the  place 
where  I  camped  so  long  (Sidi  Bishr),  and  we  found  this  very 
comfy  little  place,  which  is  a  Missionaries’  Rest  House,  used 
by  all  societies.  It  is  only  for  Missionaries.  We  have  been  so 
fortunate  in  meeting  so  many  friends  of  the  Mission.  Sir 
Montague  Beauchamp  is  in  Alexandria;  a  great  friend  of 
*C.  T’s.  I  met  him  at  Cambridge  last  year  and  his  son  at 


*  Mr.  C.  T.  Studd. 


10 


fKing’s.  He  (JSir  M.)  was  secretary  of  the  C.  I.  C.  C.  U. 
when  at  Cambridge,  so  we  had  a  great  chat  about  last  year’s 
activities.  He,  of  course,  went  out  to  China  with  C.  T.  in  ’85. 
Then,  who  else  should  turn  up  to  dinner  the  next  night  but 
Lord  Radstock,  who  was  at  Cambridge  with  C.  T.  and  his 
brothers.  He  the  grand  pangandrum  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in 
Egypt  and  doing  Evangelistic  work  in  Northern  Egypt.  He  is 
a  great  friend  of  the  Mission  and  was  very  interested  and 
helpful  about  the  journey. 

There  are  a  number  of  dear  old  things  here.  A  dear  old 
Mrs.  Dixon,  from  Jerusalem  (worked  there  for  about  30 
years),  has  taken  me  in  hand,  told  me  I  must  rest  after  the 
voyage  and  sees  me  off  to  bed  in  good  time.  Another  wonder¬ 
ful  lady,  a  Miss  Ramsay  (aunt  to  the  man  who  married 
Princess  Pat),  who  has  worked  35  years  in  Ceylon  (C.  M.  S.), 
and  others  ad  lib,  each  with  a  wonderful  story  and  all  inspiring 
and  delighted  to  have  three  young  Missionaries  to  encourage. 
It  is  very  delightful. 

Another  old  dear,  an  American,  Doctor  Christie,  also  retir¬ 
ing,  78,  who  founded  a  great  work  in  Tarsus  (Asia  Minor), 
where  all  the  trouble  is  now.  One  learns  much  in  conversation 
with  these  people,  tips  about  all  sorts  of  things. 

I  met  a  splendid  man  last  night,  a  Dr.  Campion,  an  old 
London  Crusader — very  keen,  and  his  splendid  wife.  He  knows 
crowds  of  Crusaders  that  I  know  (London),  thinks  the  world 
of  Hudson  Pope,  etc.,  etc.  §Jenkinson  and  I  went  to  dinner 
there  on  Sunday  night  and  met  a  very  fine  Indian  Doctor 
friend  of  his,  a  Christian  and  an  expert  bacteriologist.  Much 
to  my  relief  he  will  innoculate  me  tomorrow.  Isn’t  it  splendid? 
Egypt  looks  much  the  same  as  when  I  was  last  here.  . 

*  *  *  * 

Alexandria,  March  16th,  1920. 

We  seem  to  have  been  here  quite  a  long  time,  but  now  we 
have  decided  to  move  on — Thursday  the  18th — to  Cairo  to  the 
house  of  a  II lady  who  docs  the  “guardian  angel”  to  our  Mission 
in  Cairo. 

There  I  have  to  procure  bales  of  cotton  cloth  for  little 
boys’  trousers  and  other  things,  colored  prints,  as  gay  as  pos¬ 
sible,  etc.,  agricultural  implements,  etc.,  etc.,  owing  to  a  slight 


t  King’s  College,  Cambridge, 
t  One  of  the  renowned  Cambridge  Seven. 
§  Herbert  Jenkinson. 

||  One  of  our  American  friends. 

11 


delay  of  our  luggage  at  Port  Said  we  shall  not  catch  the  boat 
on  the  21st  of  March,  but  now  shall  leave  Khartoum  on  April 
6th,  leaving  Cairo  on  or  about  April  1st.  Cairo  to  K.  takes 
about  4  or  5  days,  and  is  split  with  24  hours  on  the  Nile.  I 
don’t  know  why  they  haven’t  a  railroad. 

We  have  had  a  delightful  time  here  and  have  been  able  to 
do  useful  work  at  the  Kitchener’ s  Soldiers  Home  here.  Sun¬ 
day  before  last  I  took  the  Bible  Class,  about  40  men,  also  sung 
the  Pilot  song,  got  into  touch  with  a  number  of  splendid  fel¬ 
lows.  In  the  evening  Ambrose  spoke  very  well.  Definite  de¬ 
cisions  made,  and  last  Sunday  Jenks  took  the  Bible  class,  after 
which  /  spoke  on  the  work  we  were  going  to  and  why  we  were 
going,  etc.  I  was  asked  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  but 
seemed  to  find  a  great  deal  to  say  when  I  started.  Then  I 
went  to  the  St.  George’s  Garrison  Church  with  one  of  the  boys 
and  helped  the  choir.  It  seemed  so  strange  to  put  on  cassock 
and  surplice  once  more  in  that  little  Kirk.  You  remember  I 
was  in  the  choir  there  when  dear  old  Padre  Key  was  chaplain 
there  (who  was  killed  at  Thiepval).  Sir  Hanby  preached  a 
very  fine  sermon  on  “And  there  was  a  lad  there,”  the  boy  who 
gave  his  all  to  Christ,  though  it  wasn’t  much,  only  5  small 
loaves  and  two  small  fishes.  But  it  was  all. 

I  find  now  that  we  shall  go  on  to  Cairo  fairly  soon,  as  I’ve 
stores  for  the  trekking  to  buy,  and  other  things  like  cotton  for 
the  boy’s  trousers,  etc.,  and  a  few  tools,  and  we  are  staying 
with  an  American  lady  and  her  husband.  Splendid  people,  and 
just  delighted  to  do  anything  and  everything  for  any  mis¬ 
sionaries. 

Fairhaven  has  been  a  place  of  refreshing — delightful  people 
— just  beside  themselves  to  help  us  along  all  they  could. 

Isn’t  it  wonderful  how  we  have  been  helped  and  refreshed 
all  the  way — being  prepared. 

*  *  *  * 

Khartoum,  March  23rd,  1920. 

We  arrived  here  yesterday,  and  as  usual,  everything  perfect. 
But  I’d  better  go  back  to  my  last  letter,  which  was  posted 
from  Cairo.  We  got  there  on  the  15th,  and  were  there  10 
days.  Cairo  is  good  in  parts,  and  mostly  very  smelly.  I  had 
such  a  busy  time  buying  for  the  Mission,  cloth  for  the  Nala 
school  boys — blue,  also  unbleached  and  some  strong  colored 
cotton  print.  I  tried  hard  to  tear  them  all  but  failed,  and  the 
prices  were  very  good  (after  a  bit  of  argument.)  As  neither 
of  the  boys  had  been  to  Cairo  before  they  did  more  sight¬ 
seeing  than  I  did.  I  had  great  fun  after  going  to  three  other 


12 


large  places  in  vain,  in  order  to  buy  tools,  picks  and  spades. 
At  last  I  struck  a  store  of  a  Coptic  Egyptian  .  He  was  so 
interested  in  everything  I  bought  and  where  I  was  going  (and 
he  spoke  good  English),  but  amazed  beyond  words  why  I 
should  go  to  such  a  place. 

“And  the  last  300  miles  we  have  to  walk.” 

“Not  walk,  Effendi  ?”  “Yes,  walk.” 

“On  your  feet?”  “Certainly!” 

Hassoun  Effendi  collapsed  in  a  great  fat  heap  on  the  bent¬ 
wood  chair  that  creaks.  The  next  morning  I  went  in  to  check 
and  approve  of  the  goods — he  drew  me  to  the  end  of  the 
shop  to  have  black,  very  black  and  nearly  solid  coffee  and 
asked  me  more  about  things,  and  the  work  of  the  Mission,  the 
people,  customs,  and  for  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half  with  five 
of  the  assistants  also,  who  came  nearer  one  by  one,  I  told 
them  how  these  poor  people  were  being  changed  through  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  we  went  out  in  His  strength, 
not  our  own.  What  else  could  I  have  said  ?  They  seemed 
very  interested,  did  everything  for  me  possible  and  the  dear 
old  hoy  got  a  carriage  for  me  himself,  and  put  me  and  my 
goods  into  it  and  waved  his  handkerchief  till  I  went  around 
a  corner. 

We  met  some  very  charming  people  of  the  Nile  Mission 
Press  (a  truly  voonderful  work).  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McClenahan, 
American  Missionaries  to  Moslems,  the  hardest  missionary 
work  in  all  the  world,  I  believe,  zoorse  than  the  Jeivs.  They 
told  us  of  two  brothers,  recently  converted,  who  have  made  a 
definite  stand  for  the  faith.  The  father,  a  land  owner  and 
well  off,  they  have  been  cast  out.  One  of  them  has  been 
assaulted  with  attempt  to  murder  four  times,  and  I  never  saw 
two  such  shining  fellows  in  my  life.  The  mother  is  secretly 
in  sympathy  and  would  join  them  if  it  were  not  for  the 
father.  We  shall  follow  their  history  with  interest  and 
prayer.  Great  things  may  happen  through  the  family.  So  Mr. 
M.  is  writing  to  let  us  know  what  happens.  Oh,  that  people 
who  say:  “They  have  their  religion,  let  them  alone,”  could 
see  the  degradation  that  this  religion  leads  them  to — where  a 
woman  is  told  that  she  hasn’t  a  soul  and  she  is  simply  man’s 
cattle — to  reproduce  his  species  and  be  his  slave.  The  scores 
of  times  this  last  fortnight  I’ve  seen  the  man  well  dressed  and 
riding  on  a  donkey  with  four  or  five  of  these  soul-less,  sad 
looking  creatures,  with  huge  burdens  following  after  him  as 
best  they  could  on  their  sore  feet.  Surely  the  origin  of  a 
loveless  religion  is  the  devil — for  God  is  love. 

We  all  visited  the  pyramids  one  day.  I  had  been  inside, 
so  I  climbed  up  “outside” — a  really  wonderful  sight  from  the 


13 


top.  Really  one  does  not  require  any  guide,  but  an  old  rascal 
attached  himself  to  me  and  nearly  upset  me  by  pushing  behind 
when  I  wasn't  expecting.  I  didn’t  want  him  in  the  least.  Then 
by  a  circuitous  route  he  got  in  front  and  lodged  himself  in 
the  way,  so  1  couldn’t  pass  without  throwing  him  down  (and 
he  was  an  old  man)  and  insisted  on  telling  my  fortune  on  a 
big  slab  of  stone.  Now  I’ve  heard  them  all  before  so  1  de¬ 
cided  to  be  perverse.  He  made  me  a  most  mysterious  beetle¬ 
looking  shape  on  the  sand  and  bade  me  choose  a  leg.  I  chose 
a  feeler  instead.  He  counted  round  and  round  and  hummed 
a  tune  and  said  in  a  hushed  voice:  “You  belong  to  a  very  good 
family.”  I  said:  “No,  I  don’t;  my  ancestors  were  coffee  grind¬ 
ers.”  He  said:  “I  mean  good  people.”  I  said:  “No,  they  were 
brigands  in  their  spare  time.”  He  chose  another  leg.  “You 
are  going  on  a  journey.”  I  said:  “Yes,  I’ve  got  to  get  down 
this  wretched  pyramid  when  you’ve  done  all  this  rigamarole. 
Then  in  desperation  he  said,  having  exhausted  many  legs: 
“You’re  going  to  have  a  big  fortune.”  I  told  him  I’d  come 
into  it  already.  This  semed  to  cheer  him  up  some,  but  he 
seemed  as  depressed  as  ever  when  I  told  him  it  wasn’t  on 
my  person,  but  laid  up  where  thieves  do  not  break  through 
and  steal.  I  left  him  finally  sitting  on  the  big  flat  stone  be¬ 
moaning  the  fact  that  Englishmen  were  not  half  so  easy  to 
get  backsheesh  out  of  since  the  war.  All  the  Government 
officials  are  delighted  in  every  way  just  to  do  anything  they 
can  to  help  us. 

We  went  to  the  Az  Har  Moslem  University.  They  call  it 
that  in  fun,  I  believe  .  A  filth}',  smelly,  v  ile  place.  Crowds  of 
men  from  all  the  world  over  learning  the  Koran  off  by  heart. 
A  student  will  come  in  after  being  admitted  on  his  present 
knowledge  of  the  Koran,  and  bring  his  bed  and  cooking 
utensils,  find  a  comfy-looking  spot  anywhere.  (The  more 
company  the  better,  and  settle  down.)  The  authorities  supply 
him  with  native  bread,  and  there  he  may  stop  rocking  himself, 
repeating  the  Koran  for  years  and  years  and  years  and  years. 
When  they’ve  had  enough  they  pick  up  their  bed  and  pots 
and  pans  and  wander  out. 

The  whole  place  is  just  a  series  of  covered  courts  sup¬ 
ported  by  marble  pillars,  which  that  old  rascal  Mahomet  Alg 
looted  from  the  Christian  Churches  he  destroyed.  There  are 
365  in  Az  Har,  each  Coptic  church  had  12,  one  for  each 
Apostle.  The  floor  is  covered  partly  by  rush  matting,  food 
all  strewn  about,  refuse,  cats,  sleeping  forms,  filth !  Such  is 
Az  Har  University!  We  left  on  the  25th  for  Shellal,  made 
our  own  tea  and  had  quite  a  comfy  journey.  On  the  evening 
of  the  26th  we  went  on  board  the  Nile  steamer  at  Shellal, 


14 


getting  tickets  right  through  to  Khartoum.  Every  scrap  of 
luggage  safely  turned  up,  19  pieces  now  with  picks  and  things. 
These  Nile  boats  are  just  delightful;  we  were  booked  second- 
class,  but  the  skipper  smiled  and  put  us  in  first  class  cabins. 
Food  very  good,  Indian  waiters,  every  convenience,  delightful 
baths,  etc.,  etc.  From  here  it  is  entirely  British  controlled 
(Sudan),  no  Gippos  in  it.  Some  most  interesting  people  on 

board.  The  manager  of  the  Sudan  Railways,  a  regular 

nib,  not  at  all  in  sympathy  with  Missions.  We  had  some 
splendid  chats.  I  gave  him  “Dawn  in  the  Devil's  Den,”  and 
the  1918  report.  He  seemed  quite  interested,  but  best  of  all 
he  told  me  he’d  just  been  to  Cairo  to  see  about  a  railroad 

from  Rejaf  to  Aba,  on  the  Cayo  frontier.  Think  of  it — -will 

cut  a  huge  slice  off  our  mail  time  and  travel. 

Then  an  American  who  is  on  a  commission  from  the 
U.  S.  Senate  to  inquire  into  the  Zionist  Movement.  We  had 
some  very  interesting  talks  on  that.  The  Zionists  are  buy¬ 
ing  hundreds  of  miles  of  lands.  They  own  now  all  the 
ex-German  hotels  ( all  but  one  in  Jerusalem) ,  and  arc  be¬ 
ginning  to  carry  out  huge  sanitary  schemes  already.  They 
practically  own  Jaffa,  and  arc  beginning  shipbuilding  on  a 
large  scale,  etc.,  etc.,  ad  lib.  Then  the  British  have  found 
immense  oil  supplies  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  which  bids  fair 
to  solve  the  problem  of  Palestine’s  industrial  future,  i.  e., 
fuel.  But  I  could  go  on  and  on. 

He  is  very  interested  in  us  and  our  project.  He  says 
“Good  morning,  boys,”  and  fathers  us,  and  he  is  coming 
with  us  on  this  other  piece  of  Nile,  Khartoum  to  Rejaf, 
14  lovely  days,  with  wonderful  scenery,  little  boat,  first  class 
cabins.  I  wonder! 

We  left  the  steamer  again  at  Haifa,  and  got  into  a  delight  fid 
train,  a  great  improvement  on  the  Egyptian  State  Railways, 
and  we  arrived  here  yesterday.  Oh,  the  joy  to  find  a  Gordon 
Hotel  man  waiting  for  us,  who  directed  us  in  everything, 
where  to  put  things,  extra  baggage,  etc.  He  got  us  porters, 
a  carriage  and  whisked  us  here.  Fancy  Easter  Sunday  in 
Khartoum  Cathedral.  Bishop  *Gwynne  is  back,  we  shall  go  to 
see  him,  he  is  a  great  pal  of  C.  T’s.  Only  let  me  add  that  in 
everything  from  baggage  arrangements,  dealing  with  officials, 
buying  goods,  in  fact,  everything,  we  have  not  had  the  slight¬ 
est  hitch  of  any  kind.  Lost  nothing,  which  in  a  journey  of 
thousands  of  miles  through  many  countries  is  really  marvelous. 


*  Bishop  Gwynne,  with  Rev.  A.  Shaw,  C.M.S.,  accompanied  Mr.  C.  T. 
Studd  to  the  Southern  Anglo-Egyptian  Sudan  in  1911  on  his  first  journey 
to  Africa. 


15 


Our  God  abundantly  answers  prayer  and  none  of  us  have  even 
worried  a  scrap  about  anything.  He  is  faithful.  Already  here 
in  Khartoum  everything  is  just  to  our  hand,  but  that  is  the 
next  chapter.  “Not  one  word  shall  fail  of  His  promise!! 
Hallelujah ! !  and  He  goeth  before!! 

*  *  *  * 

Stopped  for  Two  Hours  at  Malakal. 

April  14th. 

An  unexpected  call.  We  are  about  half  way  on  our  Nile 
journey.  We  have  completed  about  580  miles.  Khartoum  to 
Rejaf  is  about  1150  miles.  The  temperature  went  up  to  114 
last  week.  Now  it  is  getting  cooler  as  we  go  south.  Captain 
says  it’s  the  hottest  trip  he  has  yet  had — really  frizzling.  But 
I’m  afraid  they  say  these  things  for  the  satisfaction  of  passen¬ 
gers,  who  can  say  with  great  gusto :  “and  the  captain  said  it 
was  the  roughest  sea,  etc.,  etc.”  Still  it  has  been  warm.  We’ve 
all  been  very  well,  and  splendid  appetites.  Bishop  Gwynne  is 
a  host  in  himself.  Also  Mrs.  Hall  of  the  C.  M.  S.  School  at 
Ondurman,  20  years’  service,  has  mothered  me.  She  is  going 
to  take  20  slave  children  here  (Malakal)  back  to  Ondurman. 
We  have  had  long  chats  together.  She  has  given  me  trekking 
recipe  and  heaps  of  good  tips.  Love  to  all  at  home  and  all 
who  inquire  about  me. 

*  *  *  * 

S.S.  Andurman,  April  19th  to  21st. 

The  last  three  days  we’ve  seen  quantities  of  game  of  all 
kinds.  Hundreds  of  crocs,  scores  of  hippos — they  come  up 
with  a  snort  and  go  down  with  a  grunt  and  gurgle — the 
Captain  shoots  crocs  from  the  boat,  some  as  long  as  14  feet. 
This  morning  he  shot  one  on  the  bank,  so  he  and  I  went  off 
in  a  little  boat  to  get  it.  He  seemed  quiet  till  ge  got  on  the 
shore  a  little  way  off.  Then  we  approached,  the  Captain  with 
a  gun.  I  was  armed  with  a  big  club  and  the  wretch  took  to 
his  tail  and  managed  to  get  to  the  water  in  spite  of 
wounds.  Yesterday  we  saw  several  fine  elephants  close  to 
the  bank.  I  got  a  snap,  but  I  don’t  know  how  it  will  turn  out, 
because  they  wouldn't  turn  round  to  be  snapped  properly.  You 
would  be  delighted  to  see  the  most  wonderful  birds,  hundreds 
of  saxe-blue  herons,  with  white  chests,  then  gold-crested  black 
crane,  and  black  and  white  ibis  all  standing  about.  They 
were  not  at  all  afraid  of  the  boat,  fishing  and  flying  about, 


16 


then  heaps  of  wonderful  brilliant  little  birds  of  every  descrip¬ 
tion.  Four  days  we  pass  through  the  most  uninteresting  lanes 
of  papyrus,  this  is  the  old  paper  reed  of  ancient  Egypt,  which 
grows  so  quickly  and  profusely  it  blocks  the  river  by  being  torn 
away  in  great  chunks,  and  great  islands  of  it  with  birds  and 
things  on  come  floating  down  the  river.  One  stalk  is  like  an 
immense  mop  about  30  inches  across  and  10  feet  high,  and  it 
extends  for  miles  on  each  side  of  the  river  in  parts  where  it 
is  swampy. 

We’ve  now  passed  all  this  and  it  is  jungly  again.  We  ex¬ 
pect  to  see  giraffes  toda}r.  It's  a  regular  wild  beast  show,  and 
they  are  all  happy  but  the  crocs,  who  have  a  very  thin  time 
when  the  boats  pass,  but  they  simply  swarm,  so  it’s  a  very  good 
thing  for  the  natives  who  go  in  to  fish.  We  have  passed 
Shillooks  and  Dinkas  chiefly,  great  fellows,  half  of  them  over 
seven  feet  high  and  very  thin.  I  got  a  snap  of  some  at 
Fashoda.  The  Bishop  Gzvynne  is  a  remarkable  man — goes 
into  the  znllagcs  and  chats  with  the  people  so  happily,  they 
all  like  him  so  much  and  get  up  to  greet  him  everyzvhere. 

By  the  way,  did  I  tell  you  I  met  Eric  Hussey  at  Khartoum. 
He  is  Inspector  of  Education,  practically  controls  the  im¬ 
mense  Gordon  College  in  Khartoum,  as  well  as  other  schools 
in  the  Sudan.  I  went  to  dinner  at  his  lovely  place  one  night, 
everything  in  great  style;  I  was  very  glad  I’d  got  myself  a 
white  suit  after  all.  Tailors  make  you  a  white  suit  while 
you  wait  out  here,  Greeks  mostly.  Then  we  had  dinner  on 
Easter  Saturday  eve  zvith  the  Bishop  and  Dr.  Lloyd  of  the 
C.  M.  S.  Hussey  took  me  all  around  the  Gordon  College. 
It’s  a  wonderful  native  college,  run,  of  course,  by  the  Govern¬ 
ment.  Every  kind  of  craft  and  science  taught,  from  carpentry 
and  engineering  to  medicine  and  bacteriology — turning  out  a 
generation  of  Sudanese  officials,  etc. 

Tomorrow  we  arrive  at  Rejaf,  so  I  must  just  finish  this 
scrawl.  Yesterday  the  Bishop  got  off  at  Malek  to  join  Shaw  of 
the  C.  M.  S.  and  will  come  on  in  three  days.  I  clipped  his  epis¬ 
copal  pate  very  short  and  tidy,  also  the  boys — found  I  had 
quite  the  tonsorial  flourish.  Then  the  Bishop  cut  mine,  and 
entre  nous  made  a  bald  pate  behind — but  one  must  expect  to 
pay  for  such  an  honor.  Everyone  in  the  Sudan  speaks  so 
affectionately  of  the  Bishop — military  and  civil  authorities. 
Steamer  and  rail  officials  will  just  do  anything  for  him.  One 
of  those  big-hearted,  kindly,  sympathetic  men  who  sees  the 
best  in  everyone,  and  help  them  to  a  better  best. 

You’ll  be  glad  to  know  I  got  a  lovely  little  ginger  and 
white  pup  today  at  Mayella.  I  went  round  the  village,  asked 
a  native  woman  for  this  pup.  He  had  a  black  and  white 

17 


brother,  but  this  is  such  a  pretty  color,  and  tried  to  eat  me 
when  I  stroked  him,  so  I  took  him.  The  woman,  charming, 
black  and  shiny,  insisted  on  giving  me  the  pup  for  nothing,  so 
I  insisted  on  giving  her’  a  present,  not  for  the  pup — for  noth¬ 
ing — so  she  was  satisfied. 

Of  course,  it  can’t  be  anything  but  Ginger,  so  he’s  settled 
down  to  sleep  on  the  deck,  and  is  quite  at  home.  I  only  hope 
I’ll  get  him  to  Nala  without  being  eaten  or  something.  I  do 
so  like  a  dog,  and  it  will  be  company,  if  it  doesn’t  get  eaten. 

We  expect  to  leave  Rcjaf  on  the  23rd  or  perhaps  the  22nd. 

jJC  ^  Jfc 

Ri-;st  House,  Aba,  April  28th,  1920. 

We  had  only  two  nights  in  Rejaf,  at  quite  a  good  rest 
house.  Couldn’t  get  a  very  satisfactory  boy,  so  we  got  one  to 
make  fires  and  wash  up,  and  I  did  the  cooking,  baking  powder 
cake  made  with  “oil”,  and  cooked  in  a  frying  pan,  quite  good 
hot,  but  not  so  good  cold.  Then  we  had  a  rooster,  cost  20 
cents,  the  boy  tied  him  by  the  leg  and  he  got  away.  George 
chased  him  round  and  round  the  place  until  I  thought  he 
would  be  too  lean  to  eat.  He  took  refuge  in  the  cook  house— 
we  boiled  him. 

Our  camp  beds  were  very  cosy,  and  we  had  two  splendid 
nights.  Ginger,  the  pup  1  got  at  Hayalla,  slept  in  the  midst 
after  a  good  dinner  of  chicken  bones,  etc.  Fie  is  great  fun, 
but  I  hear  with  consternation  that  everyone  has  a  dog  at  Nala, 
and  it  will  be  one  more  to  lick  your  bare  knees  under  the 
table  at  dinner.  We  left  Rejaf  in  the  drenching  rain  on 
Sunday  morning,  the  25th.  Dreadful  roads,  car  broke  down, 
had  to  put  one  night  at  Toka,  a  good  night  there.  Next  night 
we  had  at  Yei,  the  Rev.  P.  O.  B.  Gibson  of  C.  M.  S.  had  us  to 
dinner  and  brekker — magnificent  fellow — a  real  treat  to  meet 
him.  He  has  a  fine  boys’  school,  self-supporting,  in  Bangala,* 
because  they  are  of  various  tribes.  So  we  had  prayers  all 
together  in  Bangala  for  the  first  time,  and  very  good  grub. 

The  next  day  we  got  here  to  Aba  to  find  to  our  great  joy 
that  Jenkins  was  here  to  meet  us.  It  was  a  vast  relief,  as  you 
can  imagine.  1  had  never  thought  anyone  could  be  spared  for 
such  a  job.  So  we  heard  all  the  news  of  Norman  and  the 
last  party  arriving  at  Nala  with  great  rejoicing,  all  fit  and 


*  Bangala  language — used  by  Belgian  Government  officials  for  legal 
business  and  by  traders — a  kind  of  Esperanto,  understood  by  some 
of  every  tribe. 


18 


well.  It  is  very  Messed  to  hear  all  about  things  on  the  field, 
we  have  had  wonderful  times  of  prayer  and  real  strengthening. 
As  we  get  nearer  to  our  goal  our  one  desire  is  to  draw  nearer 
to  Him  who  really  called  us.  We  are  truly  grateful  for  all 
the  prayers  at  home.  We  may  he  here  several  days  to  await 
the  rest  of  our  baggage.  We  are  getting  on  zvcll  with  Bangala 
and  seeing  the  A.  I.  M.  work,  etc.,  so  time  will  not  be  really 
wasted. 

*  *  *  * 

Rest  House,  Rambo,  May  23rd. 

After  having  left  Aha — we  were  there  actually  three  weeks 
and  four  days,  hung  up  for  our  baggage  from  Rejaf.  At  last 
most  of  it  came,  practically  all  of  mine — so  we’ve  left  Jenkins 
who  met  us,  you  remember,  to  bring  the  other  stuff,  and  we 
have  come  on  with  all  available  baggage.  .  We  were  held  up 
three  days  further  than  necessaty  by  drenching  rain,  which 
prevented  the  porters  from  coming  in  from  surrounding 
villages. 

However,  on  Friday  last  we  set  off,  and  rare  and  glad  we 
were.  The  boys  were  getting  more  and  more  fed  up  and 
irritable.  At  Aba  they  had  nothing  to  eat  but  manioc  every 
day.  It’s  a  dreadful  place  for  getting  food.  We  have  brought 
five  boys  with  us,  two  cooks  and  one  boy  each,  as  well  as  23 
porters,  about  30  porters  took  our  other  thaings  about  two 
weeks  ago,  and  Jenkins  will  need  30  more  for  the  other  goods. 
So  we  can  be  thankful  we  did  not  have  the  journey  alone  and 
with  strange  boys  and  90  porters.  We  know  the  boys  now 
pretty  well  and  can  speak  fairly  well  in  Bangala,  after  swotting 
it  every  morning  at  Aba,  and  chatting  with  the  boys.  So  we 
set  off ;  you  would  have  laughed,  the  porters  were  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  tall  and  small  and  fat  and  thin,  their  maximum 
load  is  sixty  pounds,  but  most  are  not  more  than  forty,  all 
carried  on  their  heads.  Our  first  four  days,  T  am  glad  to  say, 
are  short  treks.  The  thing  is  to  get  up  with  the  sun.  and 
after  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  biscuit  or  two,  rush  off  and  push  the 
porters  off  before  you  and  trek  till  8.00  a.  m.,  then  stop  on  the 
road  for  breakfast  and  get  the  whole  trek  over  before  11  a.  m. 
at  the  outside.  Every  15-20  miles  there  are  rest  houses  where 
we  put  up  for  the  night.  These  are  just  thatched  mud  houses, 
but  quite  comfortable.  We  are  all  continually  finding  our 
army  experience  of  real  practical  use  in  every  way.  Trekking, 
discipline  of  boy  porters,  etc.  I  had  really  looked  forward  to 
being  led  by  Jenkins  on  the  trek  to  Nala,  but  now  find  myself 
in  charge  more  or  less  once  more,  i.  e.,  responsible  for  instruc¬ 
tions  every  day,  looking  after  boys,  porters,  food,  etc.,  paying- 


19 


porters,  etc.  It  was  most  amusing  yesterday.  Penjeli  (Safety 
Pin),  our  most  responsible  boy,  called  the  porters,  lined  them 
all  up  in  a  queue,  then  I  took  all  their  names,  what  they  car¬ 
ried,  and  paid  them  a  franc  food  money  for  the  trek.  They 
live  on  about  half  a  cent  a  day,  chiefly  eating  roast  manioc. 
Their  names  were  very  funny — all  sorts  of  queer  things,  which 
reminds  me  of  a  word  they  have:  ‘furu”,  meaning  cupboard, 
which  they  sometimes  use  for  their  own  inside.  So  if  one  says 
after  a  meal:  “Atu  ye  na  furu,”  you  must  be  careful  to  add: 
“Na  ngai,”  or  you  may  not  see  the  remnants  of  chicken,  etc., 
which  you  wanted  made  into  rissoles)  any  more — they  will  be 
in  his  cupboard  safe  and  sound. 

Monday — Today  we  left  Rambo.  After  a  cup  of  tea,  got 
away  about  5.45,  arriving  in  Faradge  here  at  about  10.00  A.  M. 
When  we  got  in  it  just  began  to  pour,  as  only  it  can  out  here. 
You  can’t  see  the  scenery  for  the  water  coming  down  (Ahem). 
Fortunately,  there  is  a  very  nice  official  here,  quite  a  young 
fellow.  He  sent  us  up  a  basket  of  fruit  to  the  rest  house — 
three  pines,  a  dozen  oranges  and  some  pai-pai.  The  latter 
are  delightful  fruit,  about  as  long  as  the  width  of  this  paper, 
rather  on  the  lines  of  a  melon,  flavor  like  an  apricot,  very 
nourishing.  These  are  cheap  and  plentiful.  Then  I  sent 
Penjeli  to  ferret  for  food  and  he  brought  back  three  chickens 
and  abundant  manioc.  Total  cost,  40  cents,  but  at  the  present 
rate  of  the  franc,  20  cents.  Mangoes,  too,  are  a  fine  fruit 
which  are  plentiful.  So  the  cooks  are  getting  to  work  as  I 
write.  After  walking  for  four  good  hours,  hard  at  it,  we 
tucked  into  breakfast  like  soldiers — guanda  (manioc)  cakes 
fried  and  a  large  chicken  cake  (this  the  cook  makes  of  minced 
chicken,  guanda,  rice,  herbs,  etc.).  Very  fine,  indeed,  until 
you  get  it  every  day,  then,  well  you  eat  it  up!  One  thing  we 
determined,  we  would  have  Bangala  Prayer  every  evening 
with  the  boys.  The  first  night  I  made  the  plunge  and  after 
hymns  (which  they  will  sing  all  night  if  you  let  them)  and  a 
reading  from  Mark,  I  offered  a  prayer  in  Bangala  and  said  a 
few  words  on  the  reading.  Really  it  was  quite  surprising 
how  well  I  got  on.  It  is  getting  much  easier  to  manage  with 
the  boys,  too. 

Last  night,  taking  a  little  stroll  in  the  moonlight  before 
turning  in,  I  heard  some  of  the  boys  singing  hymns  in  the 
porters’  hut.  Going  nearer  I  heard  Panjeli  reading  some 
verses  from  *Mako,  and  telling  them  why  we  three  white  men 
had  come  so  far. 


*  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  translated  by  A.  B.  Buxton,  printed  by  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 


20 


Afterwards  they  came  to  me  to  ask  if  we  could  not  have  a 
service  and  speak  to  the  porters,  and  there  in  the  moonlight 
1  knelt  with  those  two  dear  fellows  and  asked  for  guidance 
about  this  matter  and  they  asked  for  great  blessing  on  my 
work  out  here.  I  can  tell  you  it  was  no  small  joy  to  me  to 
see  such  spontaneous  action  and  such  a  real  desire  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  others.  All  our  five  hoys  are  Christians,  hut 
these  really  are  fine. 

So  tonight  we  set  out  to  do  this  and  God  will  doubtless 
bless  our  ignorance  of  the  language,  and  our  utter  weakness, 
He  is  able. 

*  *  *  * 

Rest  House,  Nikibondo,  June  1st 

Twelfth  Day  of  Trek.  That  same  night  at  Faradge  we 
decided  just  to  attempt  it  in  the  form  of  asking  any  who  liked 
to  come  to  evening  prayers.  Twelve  of  them  came  and  so 
with  our  five  boys  we  had  quite  a  muster.  We  had  some  real 
good  hymns,  then  Jenkinson  read  a  bit  of  John’s  Gospel,  after 
which  1  said  a  few  words  on  the  two  paths.  They  seemed 
very  pleased  and  asked  if  they  could  come  again.  We  have 
one  very  good  hoy  with  us.  I  think  I  mentioned  him  in  my 
last — Penjeli.  1  got  him  to  speak  at  greater  length,  and  so  we 
did  something,  though  it  was  a  weak  effort.  Could  you  but 
see  these  poor  people  you  zoould  long  more  and  more  that  they 
knew  something  better.  Their  life  is  just  one  of  fearful  im¬ 
morality  and  ignorant  uselessness.  Our  efforts  seem  small, 
indeed,  to  do  anything  to  help  them,  were  it  not  for  our  Lord 
who  takes  our  loaves  and  fishes,  blesses  and  multiplies  them 
and  feeds  a  multitude.  The  place  we  slept  at  next  was  Isibaba, 
not  a  bad  little  mud  rest  house,  but  I  felt  so  groggy  on  the 
last  lap,  with  the  usual  symptoms  that  as  soon  as  my  bed 
was  put  up  I  rolled  in  with  ten  grains  of  quinine  and  hot 
water  bottle,  and  soon  was  in  a  very  good  healthy  perspiration. 
When  I  cooled  off  a  little  I  got  up  at  4.00  and  pretended  I 
was  right  again,  sat  in  a  chair  outside  chatting  about  our 
plans.  But  feeling  that  gradual  sinking,  weak  sort  of  feeling 
of  fever,  thinking  how  bad  it  would  be  if  we  were  held  up  and 
of  all  God’s  promises  to  keep  us  all  the  time.  We  had  united 
prayer  about  it.  1  could  scarcely  kneel,  I  felt  so  groggy.  I 
don't  think  1  have  ever  known  and  been  more  conscious  of 
the  presence  of  God  as  at  that  time.  We  remembered  the 
man  our  Lord  had  pardoned — “Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee ” — 
and  then  his  further  and  more  visible  zoork  of  healing  “Arise,” 
etc.,  and  we  just  claimed  that  same  power  once  more.  “Oh! 


21 


God  is  faithful  to  His  promises,  and  for  the  first  time  in  my 
life  I  experienced  that  remarkable  freshness  come  to  my  head 
and  limbs  and  1  knew  that  this  was  not  natural  humanly  speak- 
ing,  for  at  the  time  I  felt  at  my  wrist.  Now  I  have  always 
been  careful  and  perhaps  a  little  critical  of  faith  healing,  but 
this  was  as  surely  an  act  of  God  as  I  am  fit  and  healthy  today. 
All  my  imagination  could  not  bring  down  a  very  high  tempera¬ 
ture  and  take  away  a  raging  headache  and  bodily  weakness. 
I  ate  a  very  good  dinner,  slept  well  and  we  did  a  splendid 
trek  the  next  day  to  a  little  place,  Kusana,  and  never  felt 
fitter  in  my  life.  Sine  cthen  I  have  been  perfectly  fit  and  so 
have  the  other  boys.  We  have  not  been  held  up  once  and  we 
are  doing  the  trek  in  good  time.  The  scenery  is  just  wonder¬ 
ful;  real  jungle  Ave  are  in  now;  wild  orchids,  trailing  creepers, 
wonderful  flowers  and  amazing  butterflies  that  make  one  long 
to  know  about  their  history  and  things.  There  are  great  big 
ones  of  amazing  patterns  eight  inches  wide,  and  we  see  num¬ 
bers,  all  different,  fluttering  round  one  place.  We  still  see 
numerous  wild  animals — tracks  of  elephants,  lions  and  leop¬ 
ards.  Very  fresh  in  the  early  morning. 

At  our  breakfast  halt  the  next  day  who  should  roll  up  but 
the  Rev.  A.  Shaw  (C.  M.  S.)  and  Bishop  Gwynne.  It  was 
delightful  to  see  him  again,  and  he  looked  better  after  his 
strenuous  chase  round  the  North  Congo.  We  had  guinea- 
fowl  and  antelope  for  breakfast,  with  eggs  and  quanda  cakes, 
and  a  very  jolly  party  we  were.  We  arrived  at  Dunc/u,  May 
So.  There  zee  met  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Laverick  ( A .  I.  M.) ;  the 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Gore  ( C .  M.  S.),  who  were  passing  through 
from  Yambio,  where  the  Bishop  had  been  before.  We  had 
dinner  altogether  and  a  real  good  talk  on  the  zeork.  It  was 
very  nice  for  Missionaries  of  three  societies  to  unite  in  prayer 
for  the  Congo.  T  went  to  their  service  (Sunday)  in  the  after¬ 
noon — very,  very  nice,  but  all  in  Azandi.  Of  course,  I  sung 
the  hymns  very  lustily,  but  without  much  meaning,  I  fear.  Mr. 
Gore  preached — we  had  a  very  good  time,  indeed.  They  gave 
us  a  fruit  salad  with  about  six  kinds  of  fruit  we  don’t  see  in 
England.  You  really  should  taste  mangoes  and  paipai  and 
guava  and  the  delightful  pines  we  get  here.  Last  night  a 
woman  came  with  six  large  pines  quite  ripe.  I  offered  her 
six  mahutas  (worth  five  cents).  She  said:  “Oh,  no,  only  three 
mahutas,”  and  wouldn’t  take  any  more.  Fancy  two  large  ripe 
pineapples  for  half  a  nickel.  Our  chickens  cost  about  five 
cents  each,  and  they  are  quite  good,  too.  We  arrived  at 
Rungu  yesterday,  the  last  place  of  importance  before  Nala. 
The  Chef-de-Post,  a  Swiss,  is  charming.  He  made  us  a  pres¬ 
ent  of  five  chickens,  a  large  fish,  half  a  kid,  English  vege- 


tables,  etc.,  for  I’ve  had  every  opportunity  to  turn  our  English 
dishes  for  the  hoys.  These  officials  seem  so  wild  zoith  delight 
to  see  another  zchite  wan  that  they  embrace  one!  This  good 
man  can’t  speak  a  word  of  English  so  we  haven’t  got  so  far  as 
we  otherwise  might  have  done. 

Porters  should  have  come  today  (37  we  want  for  the  goods 
we  have  with  us,  other  goods  behind),  but  they  failed  so  we 
have  another  good  night  here.  I  usually  take  prayers  with  the 
boys.  Tonight  rve  had  a  very  nice  hymn,  a  translation  of 
^Alfred’s  of  “The  King  of  Love  My  Shepherd  Is”  to  the 
same  tune.  You  cannot  imagine  how  delightful  it  is  to  be  able 
to  speak  to  them  at  prayers,  etc.  Conversation  is  now  quicker 
and  easier.  We  feel,  and  I  have  particular  reason  to  feel,  that 
God  has  helped  us  very  much  zmth  the  language.  Tonight  1 
spoke  on  the  feeding  of  the  multitude,  a  thing  they  can  well 
appreciate  and  wonder  at.  They  seem  very  thoughtful.  We 
have  eight  with  us  now;  three  have  joined  us  and  Jenkins  has 
gone  on  to  Nala  by  cycle,  having  seen  our  goods  arrive  at  Aba. 

*  *  *  * 


INala,  June  23rd. 

I  fear  this  is  a  very  hurried  line,  rather  disappointing  for 
a  first  letter  from  here,  but  as  you  can  imagine  I’ve  scarcely 
had  time  to  do  anything.  As  far  as  I  can  see  I  shall  remain 
here  at  Nala  at  present.  They  have  been  and  still  arc  very 
short  handed.  A  big  number  of  workmen  employed — splendid 
boys’  work — school,  etc.  Medical  dispensary,  etc.,  and, girls’ 
and  women’s  industrial  work  and.  school.  Hozv  three  people 
have  carried  this  on  just  beats  all  imagination.  A  good  solid 
12  hours  every  day — meeting  for  prayer  for  keen  men  at  5.30 
A.  m.  (20-30)  and  winding  up  at  6  p.  M . ,  when  the  school  and 
men’s  work  finishes.  The  school  is  splendid — Miss  Bromberger 
alone  has  carried  this  on — this  means  she  is  with  them  all  the 
time,  organizing  their  work,  gardening,  etc..,  etc.,  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  seeing  they  keep  clean  and  their  houses  clean.  Then  the 
school  proper  in  the  afternoon,  2.15  to  6.00  p.  m.  The  work¬ 
men  who  wish  to  come  can  also  attend.  Of  course,  the  whole 
thing  needs  firm  discipline,  and  Miss  B.  has  done  this  entirely 
on  her  own.  To  see  all  the  various  classes  move  about  quietly 
and  do  everything  together  is  really  a  treat.  Of  course,  we 
only  do  the  most  elementary  work — just  reading  entirely  by 


*  Alfred  Barclay  Buxton. 

t  Nala,  Headquarters  of  Heart  of  Africa  Mission  in  the  Field. 

23 


phonetics,  which  takes  a  long  time  to  learn,  and  addition  and 
subtraction.  When  they  can  read,  they  read  the  Gospels,  Mark 
and  John,  and  so  really  get  to  know  the  Word  of  God.  Among 
the  elder  boys  in  particular  are  some  very  real  Christians, 
whose  lives  and  readability  bear  real  testimony  to  a  changed 
life. 

My  day  is  very  full,  indeed  , beginning  with  the  5.30  prayer 
— it  usually  lasts  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  C.  T.  takes 
this  in  his  own  house  (on  the  big  veranda),  then  after  the 
workmen’s  meeting  for  morning  prayers  at  6.30.  I  am  on  the 
industrial  stunts — vainly  striving  in  the  carpenter’s  shop  to 
show  them  how  to  use  tools  and  to  cut  and  plane  straight.  I 
use  the  word  a  thousand  times  a  day — alima.  I  have  six 
carpenters,  some  of  them  very  nice  fellows,  three  of  them 
very  keen  Christians,  the  others  cooler.  We  have  also  chair¬ 
making,  etc.,  agricultural  work.  All  this  sems  very  prosy  com¬ 
pared  with  one’s  usual  ideas  of  pioneer  missionary  work,  but 
considering  the  coining  expansion  of  the  zeork,  enlargement  of 
the  Id.  Q.  organization  is  inevitable.  Every  new  station  to  be 
opened  will  have  to  have  many  things  from  the  H.  Q.  in  order 
to  get  to  work  rapidly  without  waste  of  time.  Then  I  am 
altering  a  big  native  “guamo”  (dance-house)  for  native  quar¬ 
ters.  And  later  on  we  shall  build  a  native  hospital  when  zee 
get  a  doctor.  At  mid-day  we  have  the  daily  P.  M.  of  the 
missionaries.  Just  a  word  about  some  of  the  fellows  here. 
I  have  two  boys,  of  course,  a  cook  and  a  boy;  both  have 
passed  through  the  school  and  read  and  write  well.  The  cook 
is  Imbikoni  and  the  boy  Jugi  (judge).  Getting  rather  fagged 
1  managed  an  attack  of  fever  which  lasted  a  day  or  two.  Well, 
my  temperature  was  pretty  bad  and  getting  worse  in  the  early 
afternoon  of  the  third  day,  when  Jugi  came  along  and  asked 
me  if  he  might  read  a  little  to  me  (I  told  him  I  wanted  him 
to  keep  up  his  reading).  At  the  moment  I  would  have  said 
“Yes”  if  he  asked  me  if  he  might  burn  the  house  down,  I 
felt  so  groggy.  Well,  he  sat  on  the  floor  near  the  bed  and 
very  intently  found  the  place  he  wanted  and  read  (he  reads 
very  well)  about  the  raising  of  Lazarus — during  this  T  had 
sorted  bv  brain  out  a  little  more  and  began  wondering  why  he 
had  read  this — well — he  finished  and  asked  me:  “Wasn’t  it 
wonderful  ?”I  said:  “Yes,  it’s  like  all  God’s  work.  He  can  do 
anything.”  Then  he  looked  at  me,  with  his  head  on  one  side, 
and  said:  “Couldn’t  He  take  away  your  fire  of  the  head?  (as 
they  call  it  here.)  1  had  prayed  about  this  matter,  of  course, 
but  had  not  had  the  gumption  to  take  God  at  His  word.  I  an¬ 
swered  him  :  “You  believe  He  can?”  So  he  knelt  down  quickly 
and  said  a  little  prayer  in  which  he  said :  “Oh  God  you  are  our 


Father — you  can  easily  make  my  white  man  better.”  I  prayed 
after  that  and  when  I’d  finished  he  jumped  up  quickly,  turned 
the  blanket  back  and  began  to  pull  me  up.  I  was  speechless 
nearly  with  amazement.  This  wasn’t  empty  faith,  but  real 
practical  working  material,  so  what  could  I  do.  I  jumped  up; 
he  ran  for  some  hot  water  for  a  sponge  down  and  soon  I  was 
up  and  doing  (gently).  Out  of  pure  curiosity  I  took  my  tem¬ 
perature  again.  It  was  just  below  normal;  when  he  began 
to  read  it  was  103  degrees.  Usually  one’s  temperature  goes 
up  in  the  evening  in  ordinary  malaria.  Now  it  was  just  this — 
on  the  trek,  as  you  know,  God  took  fever  away  worse  than 
this  last  attack  and  I  think  He  wanted  to  show  me  that  no 
matter  where,  He  is  the  same.  These  are  just  plain  facts  of 
the  case. 

Pray  particularly  for  the  two  boys,  Jugi  and  Imbikoni,  both 
are  keen  Christians;  then  for  Baragueni,  Sangbada  and 
Gcniisi,  our  chief  men  here  and  my  six  carpenters.  Our  great 
hope  here  is  in  some  of  the  fine  boys  in  the  school,  and  many 
are  really  keen  little  Christians.  1  usually  speak  at  the  boys’ 
daily  prayers.  Do  pray  that  I  may  be  enabled  to  give  His 
word,  not  my  own,  to  these  boys  whose  future  may  mean 
more  won  for  Christ. 


*  *  t-  * 


Five  Days  Elapse 

The  last  week  however,  seems  to  have  been  the  beginning 
of  a  change  here;  God  abundantly  anszcers  prayer.  Many  men 
have  come  together  for  prayer  on  their  own  and  seem  to  be 
stirred  to  a  deeper  consecration.  The  two  ladies  may  soon  go 
out  on  a  circular  tour,  which  will  mean  Jenkinson  and  me  in 
charge  of  the  boys’  industrial  work — the  whole  school,  man 
and  boys,  etc.,  so  will  have  plenty  to  do,  I  expect.  Yesterday 
I  helped  C.  T.  at  a  baptism  service  in  the  river  Nala,  about 
half  men  and  half  women.  Some  of  them  very  earnest,  indeed 
— not  Nala  people,  but  some  who  have  had  the  Gospel  and 
preparation  for  some  time. 

The  work  is  just  full  of  interest.  I  may  not  stay  long  in 
Nala;  I  don’t  know  yet;  it  depends  on  our  future  develop¬ 
ments.  We  have  continual  assurance  of  God’s  greatest  bless¬ 
ing  on  the  work  in  this  unoccupied  region  where  more  men 
and  women  are  so  badly  needed.  Women  can  do  magnificent 
work,  e.  g. :  Miss  B.,  who  has  run  this  fine  school.  She  has 
had  malaria  and  blackwater  so  badly  she  must  go  home  this 
year,  I  should  imagine.  Then  there  is  the  work  amongst  the 


25 


girls  and  women.  *Nurse  Arnall  does  it  here,  which,  of 
course,  only  women  can  do  satisfactorily.  If  folk  at  home 
realized  the  great  crying  need  of  these  poor  souls  who  have 
never  had  a  chance  of  anything  but  appalling  degradation, 
they  would  come  running  and  leave  everything  for  Christ. 
As  God  has  been  so  gracious  to  us  on  the  journey  so  is  He 
being  now.  We  have  got  the  language  now  fairly  well, 
more  we  shall  only  get  by  constant  use. 

One  looks  at  dear  f  C.  T.  S.,over  6o,  working  as  no  ordinary 
man  can  zoork.  If  we  tried  to  do  what  he  does  we  would 
crock  up  in  a  week.  A  man  zvhose  aim  is  to  pour  himself 
out  for  these  people  that  they  may  hear  of  Christ.  One  longs 
for  more  real  sacrifice  in  one’s  own  life  and  that  others  at 
home  might  long  for  it,  too,  that  we  might  know  Him  and 
the  Power  of  His  Resurrection  and  the  Fellowship  of  His 
Sufferings — -Pozver  and  Sacrifice  are  inseparable.  Even  out 
here  one  could  come  out  and  settle  down  and  be  comfortable 
and  lazy — may  1  be  kept  faithful. 


*  *  *  * 


Nala,  July  29th. 

The  school  at  full  strength  is  about  150  boys,  not  quite  full 
at  present ;  all  boarders,  under  whole  time  discipline  for  food, 
work,  school  and  everything,  So  you  can  imagine  the  grip 
that  is  necessary  on  a  pack  of  little  black  boys,  or  it  would  be 
one  big  pandemonium.  I  believe  I’ve  had  fever  three  times 
since  1  came  to  Nala,  then  a  nasty  attack  of  dysentery,  being 
so  close  they  pull  one  down  no  end.  But  now  at  last  I’ve 
begun  to  feel  truly  energetic  and  well,  and  getting  on  well 
with  the  work.  Strange,  isn’t  it?  I  felt  even  in  England  I 
should  stop  at  Nala  for  a  time  at  least.  Well,  there  seems  a 
lot  of  spade  work,  not  at  all  very  interesting,  to  do  here; 
reinforcing  and  preparing  for  extension  of  the  whole  work, 
helping  dear  old  C.  T. — that  1  am  wanted  here  at  present. 
Personally,  of  course,  one  would  like  to  get  to  a  new  place 
and  get  a  work  entirely  on  one’s  own  lines.  George  Ambrose 
is  doing  well  with  Lowder  at  Wamba,  Southeast  at  Deti, 


*  Nurse  Arnall  home  on  furlough, 
t  Mr.  C.  T.  Studd. 


26 


getting  building  up,  a  school  going,  endless  work  of  every 
description.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Norman  Grubb  arc  at  Dcti,  where 
there  are  immsense  opportunities  and  things  are  moving  won¬ 
derfully.  Staniford  and  Ruscoe  arrived  in  great  style.  They 
came  a  different  way,  via  Port  Sudan,  only  not  half  so  inter¬ 
esting  as  our  way.  A  man  brought  in  a  wild  pig  from  the 
jungle  for  the  occasion,  and,  Oh,  what  a  day  we  had,  I  say. 
On  these  occasions  we  all  have  dinner  with  Buana  (C.  T.  S.) 
and  have  great  fun — it  is  a  delight  to  him  to  sec  all  these  young 
fellows  coming  out.  How  lovely  it  is  to  think  of  your  prayer 
together  for  me  and  the  work  here.  What  a  real  bond  it  is 
and  real  working  together,  for  we  truly  move  the  Hand  that 
moves  the  world.  Oh,  that  we  believed  this  more  we  should 
pray  more  and  ask  for  greater  things.  I  was  sad  to  hear  of 
*Mr.  Moule’s  death.  He  was  wonderful  at  Iveswick  last  year. 
As  I  write  now  Keswick  is  only  just  over.  How  we  all  prayed 
for  a  real  blessing  on  the  Varsity  houses  there,  for  the  thrust¬ 
ing  of  more  men  out  to  the  uttermost  parts — how  1  longed  to 
he  there.  Last  year,  did  1  tell  you  I  knew,  “This  is  my  first 
and  last  Keswick.” 

Well,  one  thing  I’m  certain  of — if  one  came  out  here  on 
Social  Lines  without  the  everlasting  Gospel,  one  would  go 
home  quick,  hopelessly  disappointed.  If  boys  pass  through 
the  mission  and  school  without  conversion  they  go  away  with 
seven  times  as  many  devils  as  the}'  came  with — civilizing  and 
education  alone  is  just  useless.  Of  course,  greater  knowledge 
brings  greater  responsibility,  so  if  they  don’t  alter,  they  are 
in  greater  sin. 

My  own  boys,  Jugi  and  Mibikoni,  are  very  good.  The 
youngest  had  to  he  spanked  the  other  day.  lie  has  been  a 
wonderful  model  ever  since.  You  know,  much  as  one  hates 
it,  it’s  vitally  necessary  here  in  the  school.  They  understand 
truly  that  you  are  not  exactly  pleased  with  them  if  you  give 
them  a  good  spanking. 


* 


* 


August  19th,  1920. 

We  are  getting  to  the  end  of  the  wet  season,  and,  oh,  how 
sorry  we  are.  The  heat  here  is  like  a  moist  oven  for  Swiss 
cakes.  But  a  dry  oven  will  be  worse. 


*  Bishop  Handley  Moule  of  Durham. 


27 


One  can  already  feel  it  is  a  struggle  to  keep  spiritually 
fresh  out  here  where  there  is  such  a  multitude  of  work  other 
than  spiritual,  and  because  of  my  unfortunate  (?)  accomp¬ 
lishments,  I  am  in  charge  of  practically  all  the  industrial  work 
here.  Superintending  log-felling,  sawing  these  into  planks  at 
the  pit  carpentry ;  all  the  doors,  windows,  etc.,  for  a  new 
house,  etc.,  besides  other  work.  Then  chair  makers  and 
weavers.  I’m  in  a  continual  nightmare  of  men  coming  to  me 
with  “I’ve  done  that  work,  what  next?”  It’s  all  very  inter¬ 
esting  and  one  gets  fine  opportunities  of  chats  with  all  the 
men;  many  come  to  my  house  for  a  chat  and  prayer,  and  many 
are  very  keen  men. 

I’ve  done  my  two  first  extractions — the  first  a  great  success, 
a  large  molar  of  Miss  fD’s  house  hoy;  he  squealed  like  a  pig. 
The  second,  a  very  had  one — a  hoy  in  the  school.  I  got  it 
out  in  pieces,  poor  kid.  Really  it’s  wonderful  the  things  one 
can  do  when  there  is  no  one  else  to  do  it,  but  I  had  only  got 
two  sizes  of  forceps  and  none  of  the  really  dreadful  things 
that  give  you  shivers  to  look  at.  I’ve  also  soled  and  heeled 
two  pairs  of  ladies’  shoes.  So  with  all  these  excitements  one 
hasn’t  much  time. 

*  *  *  * 

Nala,  September  29th. 

The  nights  are  getting  cooler  as  the  “Gard”,  or  hot  season, 
approaches  and  soon  we’ll  he  smothered  without  any  rain. 

We  have  had  Keswick  much  in  our  thoughts  and  prayers — 
Miss  Dennis  was  there,  too,  last  year.  Already  I’m  beginning 
to  envy  the  seasons  at  home.  Here  it’s  one  long  hot  summer, 
no  rejoicing  in  Spring,  etc.,  trees  always  the  same. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  now,  Berr  and  1  go  out  with  the 
hoys,  about  340  of  them,  to  a  neighboring  village,  have  a 
short  service  and  return.  All  these  tracks  go  through  thick 
jungle  and  the  good  walk  and  change  does  one  good.  Last 
week  was  rather  a  wash-out ;  we  got  to  a  large  village  and 
found  every  inhabitant  had  gone  to  the  nearest  market,  about 
four  hours  further  on.  With  the  exception  of  places  like 
Nala,  where  the  Mission  control,  most  “poso”  (markets)  are 
on  Sunday.  Here  it  is  on  Saturday.  In  many  ways  our 
poso  meeting  is  the  most  interesting  of  any.  They  come  in 
from  all  around— Azande,  Myogo,  Maege,  Mbudu,  and  though 
the  general  meeting  is  carried  on  in  Bangala,  our  head  men 
give  addresses  in  three  or  four  languages,  and  they  really  are 


t  Nurse  Dennis. 


28 


languages,  all  with  a  grammar  of  their  own.  Talk  about  a  tongue 
movement — we’ve  enough  of  it  here.  Fancy,  my  boy,  Jngi, 
can  speak  five  languages  and  understand  six,  and  he  is  about 
ten  years  old.  Of  course,  they  haven’t  much  else  to  occupy 
their  brain  box,  so  its  full  of  other  languages  and  nothing 
else.  All  societies  and  missionaries  seem  to  agree  that  vhe 
black  man,  and  particularly  the  Congo  variety,  is  about  the 
limit  in  being  hard  to  understand — even  after  conversion.  His 
hereditary  outlook  is  responsible  for  many  falls,  and  lying 
seems  natural  as  water  to  a  duck.  Until  one  realizes  that  in 
England  centuries  of  Christian  influence  have  made  a  very 
high  accepted  code  of  morals  apart  from  actual  religion  (and 
this  is  absolutely  absent  here),  you  cannot  realize  uhat  the 
Congo  Christian  has  to  fight  against.  Centuries  of  vice  and 
immorality  are  in  his  very  nature — poor,  poor  souls — we  don’t 
half  realize  their  struggle,  I  fear.  Do  pray  for  them,  particu¬ 
larly  those  I  influence.  Only  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
can  keep  them. 

We  do  need  to  walk  very  near  to  God  and  to  he  very 
instant  in  prayer  to  he  able  to  help  people  so  in  the  power  of 
the  Devil.  Education  can  never  overcome  such  a  power  of 
vice  or  dressing  them  up  in  clothes. 

Do  pray  for  them — you  little  know  how  many  will  he 
brought  to  Christ  and  how  many  Christians  will  lie  strength¬ 
ened  by  your  prayers  alone.  Oh,  that  I  had  more  faith  to 
claim  the  precious  promises  of  our  Saviour.  “Greater  works 
than  these  shall  ye  do”  because  He  is  ascended  to  a  -dace  of 
power.  Look  at  the  “Daily  Light”  today,  September  30 — very 
comforting  to  me — look  at  it  all — fever  twelve  times  in  so 
short  a  period  might  discourage  a  felloiv — but,  oh,  “He  know- 
eth  the  zvay  that  I  take”  and  when  He  hath  tried  me — I  shall 
come  forth  as  gold. 


*  *  *  * 


Nala,  October  4th. 

Blessings  never  cease.  You  know,  of  course,  that  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Grubb  had  gone  to  Deti  some  months  ago,  which  is,  by 
the  way  a  pretty  place,  high  up  on  the  hills.  You  can  see 
miles  round;  very  healthy,  better  than  Nala.  Well,  there  is 
some  more  building  work  to  do  there,  so  C.  T.  wants  me  to 
go  there,  partly  because  I  shall  he  better  in  health.  This  only 
may  he  for  a  time;  I  don’t  know.  Deti  is  only  two  days  away. 

We  left  Nala  on  Tuesday  at  about  2.30  p.  m.  Buana  in¬ 
sisted  on  my  taking  a  chair  even  if  I  didn’t  use  it — that  meant 
eight  carriers  and  three  porters.  I  didn’t  mention  this,  but 


29 


Miss  Dennis  is  going  to  Deti,  too,  so  it  turned  out  very  well, 
and  she,  of  course,  was  carried  all  the  way,  or  almost,  as  the 
road  is  really  impossible,  it  heats  anything  I’ve  yet  seen  for 
absolute  jungle.  It  would  often  he  impassable,  hut  we  take 
the  road  of  the  stream  and  wade  a  long  way  in  six  or  eight 
inches  of  water  in  a  winding  course  with  branches  right  over 
our  head.  In  front  of  us  all  goes  one  man,  a  jolly  fellow 
with  a  big  “maseti”  (or  curved  native  knife)  ;  here  you  hold 
your  breath — to  cut  away  trailers  and  branches  which  would 
catch  the  lady’s  chair — not  for  the  great  lions  and  tigers  as 
one  might  lead  you  to  believe. 

We  arrived  at  5.30,  just  before  dusk,  at  Chief  Gima’s  vil¬ 
lage.  There  we  found  a  rest  house  and  our  cook  who  had 
gone  before  had  cooked  the  chicken  and  fried  potatoes  (chips) 
very  nice  soup,  etc.,  guanda  cakes  fried — after  that  bananas 
and  tea.  It  sounds  quite  luxurious,  doesn't  it.  Everything  in 
monkey  nut  oil — the  women  make  it.  It  is  very  good  for 
cooking;  has  no  taste.  All  our  porters  and  chairmen  were 
Nala  men  and  mostly  Christians.  Oh,  what  a  real  treat  to 
have  them  and  not  wild  men  from  the  villages,  as  when  we 
came  into  Nala.  Thejr  are  so  happy  and  willing,  they  go 
faster  and  sing  lively  march  tunes,  hymns  as  we  go. 

After  we  had  had  a  cup  of  tea  the  men  were  all  sitting 
round  big  fires  singing  hymns  again,  so  I  went  to  their  big 
guano  (a  big  open-sided  house)  and  we  had  prayers  together 
with  them,  and  there  were  some  very  keen  men  there.  I  spoke 
very  shortly  on  the  real  effects  of  Christ  within  us.  I  should 
have  loved  you  all  to  have  heard  the  three  or  four  prayers 
which  followed,  real  prayers  of  faith  from  men  really  changed, 
who  not  many  years  ago  were  ignorant  of  the  Saviour  entirely. 
No  arguments  of  the  right  of  authority  to  preach  can  destroy 
the  facts  of  a  changed  life  in  many  of  these  dear  fellows. 
The  chief  man  with  us,  by  name,  Faranka,  is  a  very  bright 
fellow,  full  of  fun,  quite  young,  but  a  true  Christian.  I  en¬ 
joyed  that  half  an  hour  with  them  very  much.  Then  after 
eating  we  went  to  lied  tired.  The  rest  house  had  two  portions 
with  wide  verandah.  We  eat  in  the  middle  open  room  and 
sleep  in  the  side  places.  My  boys  and  Miss  D’s  one  slept  in  a 
lump  in  my  room  and  Miss  D.  had  her  boy’s  mother,  a  funny 
old  dear,  to  look  after  her.  Diwi  is  her  little  boy,  a  very 
good  little  fellow.  When  Miss  D.  went  to  her  room  she 
found  Diwi  tucking  his  old  black  mother  up  in  his  only  blan¬ 
ket  on  her  native  bed  on  the  floor.  My  boy’s  mother  also  met 
him  on  the  path,  insisted  on  holding  my  hand  for  quite  a  way 
and  telling  her  friends  and  relations:  “This  is  my  Juji’s  white 
man,  look  at  him.” 


30 


We  got  off  in  the  morning  quickly  at  sunrise  after  a  cup 
of  tea,  and  at  about  8.30  we  stopped  at  a  village  for  breakfast. 
But  I’cl  done  so  much  wading  and  climbing  I  had  to  change 
my  boots  and  socks,  and  after  breakfast  I  had  an  hour  or 
two  in  the  chair.  Ordinarily  one  wouldn’t  bother,  but  I’d  only 
just  got  rid  of  my  last  dose  of  fever  a  week  before,  so  I’m 
treading  carefully  for  a  time. 

After  another  wonderful  jungle  path,  often  very  difficult 
to  get  through,  we  arrived  at  Deti,  at  the  top  of  a  big  hill,  and 
received  a  vociferous  welcome  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grubb.  Al¬ 
ready  one  can  note  the  great  change  of  air;  one  gets  a  breeze 
all  day  long;  I  don’t  know  how  long  I  might  he  here.  There 
is  varied  work  to  do  and  a  report  of  the  surround'ng  villages 
to  make.  Mr.  Grubb  and  I  hope  to  go  trekking  together.  All 
around  here  are  Mbudu  people.  I  am  now  learning  Monguana, 
the  general  language  of  the  Ituri  Province  of  the  Congo.  It 
sounds  as  if  you  had  swallowed  a  lot  of  jumping  crackers — not 
a  nice  language  to  hear. 

The  day  after  we  arrived,  the  morning  Daily  Light  gave 
us  strength.  Look  at  October  15th. 

I  am  very  fit  now,  in  spite  of  having  a  good  deal  of  fever; 
this  is  a  great  change  and  I  expect  great  things  in  every 
way.  I  need  special  guidance  about  my  place  and  work  of 
the  future  that  I  may  take  a  sound  course — no  extreme  meth¬ 
ods,  but  He  will  for  His  Name’s  sake  lead  me  and  guide  me. 

“The  Eternal  God  is  our  Refuge  and  underneath  are  His 
Everlasting  Arms. 

*  *  =!=  H: 

Deti  Hill,  October  24th,  1920. 

You  would  love  to  see  this  wonderful  place  up  on  a  high 
hill,  so  high  one  can  see  about  20  miles  round  about.  It  is 
very  nice  to  see  fresh  work  and  different  methods. 

Deti  is  healthy,  being  so  high,  hut  it  is  not  ideal  for  getting 
at  the  people  because  of  the  huge  climb  to  the  Mission  places 
— it  boasts  two  houses,  one  not  at  all  comfy  or  rain  proof,  a 
church,  store  and  outhouses  for  sugar  making,  etc.,  and  the 
usual  workmen’s  houses,  etc. 

Of  course,  after  rather  a  long  absence  of  any  missionary 
here,  the  work  has  gone  back  a  little,  but  Mr.  Grubb  is  zoork- 
ing  hard  to  lay  very  solid  foundations  to  what  we  hope  will  be 
simply  a  center  for  much  surrounding  work.  Where  one 
would  recuperate  a  little  after  chasing  round  the  surrounding 
country.  I  am  helping  him  in  a  few  general  ways.  I  am 
doing  planting  of  sugar-bananas,  guanda,  etc.  I  got  a  lot  of 


31 


useful  hints  re  African  planting  from  the  A.  I.  M.  *Paul 
Hurlhcrt  was  like  a  Brother  to  me  there,  shozved  me  every¬ 
thing  on  the  place.  It  is  amazing  what  one  learns  on  the  way 
in,  but  tell  every  f intending  missionary  you  hear  or  know  of 
to  learn  everything  he  can — nothing’s  wasted  here — carpentry, 
cooking,  washing,  nursing,  maiding,  building,  cobbling,  plas¬ 
tering,  soldering,  knowledge  of  chemicals,  any  manufacturing 
of  food,  i.  e.,  sugar,  oils,  fats,  etc.,  crude  products,  woods,  etc. 

Knowledge  of  these  things  not  only  helps  one  in  missionary 
work,  hut  makes  independent  self-supporting  stations  and 
gives  a  wider  interest  to  a  missionary’s  work  and  life. 

Strange  to  say,  as  in  England,  1  find  the  greatest  pleasure 
and  result  in  small  meetings,  or  personal  talks  with  one  man. 
One  seems  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  things  and  know  his  real 
mind  and  need.  Some  of  my  greatest  inspiration  I  have  re¬ 
ceived  has  been  from  evening  prayers  with  our  house  boys 
and  cooks,  etc. 

Particularly  here  in  Deti  they  like  our  evening  prayers  to¬ 
gether.  You  would  love  to  he  here  and  look  around  the  circle. 
First  Mbikoni,  my  nice,  fat,  smiling,  round-faced  cook,  very 
earnest;  then,  both  on  one  chair,  Jugi  and  Diwi,  both  in  white; 
then  Genikeri,  Miss  D’s  cook,  a  smiling,  very  quiet  fellow. 
Then  Diwi’s  mother,  who  came  with  us,  joined  us  half  way, 
a  dear  old  thing,  and  earnest;  and  finally  Geniker’s  wife  or 
Da  Genikeri,  a  fairly  young  woman  who  usually  comes  in 
with  her  husband  here  at  Deti.  We  just  have  a  few  quiet 
hymns  and  then  one  of  the  boys  reads  a  bit  of  Mark  or  John’s 
Gospel,  after  which  I  give  a  quiet  word  on  the  Scripture  read 
and  then  after  prayer  offered  by  one  or  two  I  close  and  then 
to  bed.  Truly,  I  am  very  thankful  for  two  such  splendid  boys 
as  Mibikoni  and  Jugi.  Do  pray  for  them  both. 

Miss  Dennis  is  quite  busy  here — makes  sugar  and  takes 
school  in  the  morning,  and  takes  children’s  meetings  on  Sun¬ 
day.  Our  boys  are  teaching  in  the  school  as  they  read  fluently, 
etc.  Kingwana  is  not  so  easy  as  Bangala,  but  it  contains  a 
number  of  Bangala  words.  I’ve  not  done  much  in  it  yet. 

1  had  a  nice  letter  from  Sangbada  the  other  day.  I’ve  men¬ 
tioned  him  before — a  rather  fine  young  fellow. 


*  Son  of  the  Director  of  the  A.  I.  M. 

t  Realizing  these  needs  H.  A.  M.  has  started  a  colony  to  train  young 
men  in  all  these  crafts  before  sailing.  Particulars  from  17,  Highland 
Road,  Upper  Norwood,  London,  England. 


Deti,  November  15th,  1920. 

Well,  here  I  am,  still  at  Deti  and  having  a  very  full  and 
interesting  time.  Mrs.  Ellis  and  Nurse  Arnall  duly  arrived 
and  are  installed  in  the  proper  house.  I  am  slightly  higher 
on  the  hill  in  a  new  house,  built  some  time  time  ago,  unsuper¬ 
vised  by  a  missionary,  and  in  consquence  uninhabitable.  Just 
rooms  with  5  feet  6  inches  wide  doorways,  no  door  and  no 
windows.  So  my  first  work  is  to  convert  all  the  doorways  into 
windows  and  alter  it  inside  a  bit ;  make  native  window  shutters 
outside  and  blinds  inside  and  3  feet  3  inch  doors.  It  is  all 
just  finished  and  looks  fine.  “Though  I  ses  it  as  shouldn’t.” 
This  new  work  is  very  interesting.  I  like  the  people  better 
and  the  language.  We  are  officially  in  Ituri  now,  and  the 
language  is  Kingwana — better  language,  though  not  so  easy 
to  speak  or  so  liquid  as  Bangala,  it  comes  out  all  in  jerks. 

Already  I’ve  had  quite  a  lot  of  medical  and  dressing  experi¬ 
ence.  More  anon.  And,  of  course,  I  have  to  superintend  all 
work  going  on.  .  We  had  a  terrible  gale  last  week,  which  did 
a  great  deal  of  damage,  first  carried  away  the  church — a  good 
big  building  about  50  feet  by  90  feet  just  a  wreck  of  smoth¬ 
ered  timbers.  Three  workmen’s  houses  and  a  big  guano  we 
used  for  meetings — so  altogether  we’ve  plenty  to  do.  But  the 
climax  arrived  when  a  pole  of  the  guano  fell  on  a  little  boy 
and  broke  his  thigh  bone  high  up.  Fortunately,  I’d  got  the 
boys  to  pick  up  a  lot  of  cotton  and  to  ease  it  out  for  medical 
purposes  the  day  before  and  so  we  had  enough  for  splints, 
etc.,  and  I  hurriedly  made  two  splinters.  Nurse  sewed  one 
while  I  did  the  other,  and  we  fixed  up  in  quick  time,  but  the 
poor  kid  had  no  end  of  pain.  Now  he’s  getting  on  very  well, 
but  the  job  is  to  keep  the  bandage  round  his  chest  (to  keep 
the  long  splint  under  his  arm).  He  at  first  insisted  on  moving 
it  because  be  couldn’t  cat  enough  to  make  any  impression  on 
his  shape.  I  think  I  frightened  him  into  keeping  it  on,  but 
they’ve  got  such  foolish  relations  who  come,  enforce  their 
wishes,  and  often  spoil  good  work. 

Saturday  is  Poso  day  and  we  beat  the  drum,  then  up  to  11 
o’clock  men  and  women  and  kiddies  came  toiling  up  the  hill 
with  Bogu,  bananas,  chicken,  eggs,  nuts  for  oil,  sugar  cane, 
onions,  mats,  beds,  rice,  palm-oil,  and  other  things.  At  11 
o’clock  or  so  we  have  a  short  service,  a  few  cheerful  hymns, 
prayer,  a  short  word  to  proclaim  the  Gospel  and  invite  them 
to  come  along  on  the  morrow.  Numbers  come,  of  course,  with 
the  crowd  just  to  see  relations  from  the  other  places,  etc.  so 
we  often  have  200  or  300  at  least  at  a  Poso  meeting.  For¬ 
tunately,  Mr.  Grubb  had  put  up  another  guamo  in  a  more 
sheltered  spot,  so  with  a  rapid  enlargement  and  improvement 


33 


it  is  good  for  a  church  until  we  can  get  other  building  done, 
and  a  new  church  made,  and  poles  will  be  extra  strong,  and 
everything  double  tied  to  resist  such  fury  as  we  had  last 
week.  It  was  indescribable,  no  man  could  stand  in  it.  It  tore 
up  trees  by  the  roots  and  the  ladies’  house  heaved  and  sighed 
as  if  it  were  the  next  candidate.  Fortunately,  we  had  decided 
earlier  in  the  day  not  to  have  school,  or  the  church  might  have 
fallen  on  one  of  us  and  30  or  40  women  and  children.  The 
men  have  school  in  the  afternoon.  We  have  not  yet  got  a 
separate  building  for  the  school,  so  we  use  the  church.  We 
have  most  encouraging  daily  morning  meetings,  to  which 
everyone  on  the  station  as  wrell  as  outsiders  come  and  we  have 
had  real  blessing  in  every  kind  of  work.  After  the  meeting, 
Nurse  attends  to  sick  cases,  sores,  etc.,  and  all  my  beloved 
tarabais  (workmen)  line  up  on  parade.  I  have  now  about  18, 
including  the  goat  boy  and  water  carriers,  the  fat  and  sugar 
boy,  etc.,  and  then  Mapoi,  a  simply  fine  fellow  gives  them  a 
little  French  drill,  i.  e.,  just  straightening  them  out  and  calls 
them  to  attention,  etc.  Then  I  yarn  about  what  we’ve  to  do 
today  and  off  we  go.  They  are  a  splendid  lot  of  men,  some 
dull  and  some  recently  in  from  the  bush,  but  real  willing  and 
helpful.  I’ve  only  been  out  of  Deti  itself  twice  since  I  came 
here,  both  trips  were  thoroughly  enjoyable.  The  people  in 
every  place  welcome  us  and  ask  us  to  stay  and  are  very  atten¬ 
tive  at  meetings,  and  how  they  love  the  hymns,  which  they 
soon  pick  up. 

The  last  trip  was  caused  by  the  petition  of  two  of  the  big 
fellows  to  help  them  recover  their  mother,  who  they  said  was 
a  prisoner  in  a  Bili  house.  This  is  a  fearfully  immoral  and 
murderous  cult,  which  in  the  past  was  responsible  for  numbers 
of  deaths,  run  by  unscrupulous  and  devil  possessed  capitas  (the 
chiefs),  so  off  we  went.  Mrs.  Ellis  in  a  toippo  (carrying  chair), 
your  humble  servant  on  foot.  We  collared  this  bad  old  capita 
- — or  rather  our  men  did — surprised  the  village  in  the  middle 
of  a  wailing  song  for  the  last  victim,  who  only  died  the 
previous  day.  The  old  villain  was  thoroughly  frightened.  We 
ran  him  through  intricate  paths  in  the  jungle  to  make  him 
discover  the  Bili  house.  He  took  us  through  terrible  places, 
indescribable  in  every  way.  These  houses  are  usually  hidden 
very  well,  by  impossible  paths,  etc.  Then  just  as  we  came  to 
the  thrilling  part  where  the  dear  old  mother  is  restored  to 
her  sons  it  falls  very  flat.  We  found  the  Bili  house  had  been 
burnt,  and  on  our  return  to  the  village  found  that  the  mother 
was  a  kind  of  priestess  of  Bili  and  loved  it  more  than  her 
sons.  We  made  the  old  capita  prisoner.  Some  of  his  men 
tried  to  rescue  him  on  the  way  back,  but  !  !  !  !  and  we  handed 


34 


him  over  to  the  official.  We  had  a  service  in  the  village — a 
very  silent  hearing — several  interested  and  some  splendid  little 
kiddies.  As  we  proceeded  from  there  old  women  cursed  the 
capita  and  said  he  had  killed  their  son  or  their  haby,  etc. — too 
horrible  to  relate.  The  head  chief  is  very  favorable  to  the  Gospel 
and  wishes  to  exterminate  the  Cult  in  his  territory.  He  also 
zvishes  to  have  a  native  evangelist  sent  there.  This  is  our 
great  need,  do  pray  that  God  will  raise  up  natives  keen  and 
able  to  do  this  work — we  have  many,  but  we  want  more.  At 
present  Mr.  Louder  from  Womba  (nine  days  away)  is  here, 
so  I’m  making  the  most  of  him  to  help  me  with  the  language. 
He  has  translated  Matthezv  and  about  forty  hymns  into  King- 
zvana,  and  knozvs  both  its  root  languages,  Swahili  and  Arabic. 
He  has  traveled  far  in  the  Congo  and  is  a  very  zmluable  man 
to  learn  from. 

With  all  this  work  on  1  expect  we  shall  have  no  school  for 
a  week  or  two,  only  work  and  local  itinerating.  I  may  not 
remain  long  here.  I  would  like  to  go  further  South  when  I’ve  got 
hold  of  Kingwana.  I’m  very  ht  and  well  considering  the  various 
trials  to  one’s  health  out  here.  Do  pray  that  I  may  he  utterly 
dependent  on  Him  then  all  things  will  be  well  done  for  it  will 
he  His  work.  Both  hoys  are  simply  splendid  and  very  helpful. 
Mbikoni  takes  a  children’s  meeting  sometimes  here  and  Juji 
is  very  good,  too.  He  scarcely  needs  a  word  now  through  a 
whole  day.  It  is  a  great  blessing  to  have  good  hoys,  but  this 
is  a  direct  answer  to  prayer,  for  it  is  a  thing  we  have  prayed 
much  about  together. 

All  the  workmen,  all  local  people,  know  Bangala  as  well, 
so  1  sail  along  here  all  right,  hut  outside  only  know  Kingwana. 

*  *  *  * 

Deti  Hill,  November  23rd. 

I  am,  as  you  can  imagine,  very  busy  as  a  result  of  the  storm, 
in  fact,  I  got  too  busy  and  suddenly  decided  that  in  spite  of 
the  pressure  of  work,  etc.,  the  men  must  have  school  in  the 
afternoon  and  not  work  all  day  like  workmen  and  nothing 
else.  They  are  here  primarily  to  learn  spiritual  truth,  so  we 
got  at  it  fiercely  after  morning  prayers  till  12.30  or  1  o’clock, 
and  then  at  2.30  we  have  “barua,”  which  is  the  Kingwana  for 
school  or  writing.  This  is  very  amusing.  Some  get  on  very 
cjuickly,  others  very  slowly.  The  younger  they  are  the  better 
they  take  it  in.  The  teachers  are  our  boys,  all  of  them  read 
and  write,  so  it  is  most  useful  to  take  them  about  with  me 
even  for  that  alone.  In  a  few  weeks  I  expect  the  rainy  season 


35 


will  he  over  and  we  will  experience  our  first  sample  of  the 
Gara,  or  dry  season.  We  have  had  much  encouragement  here 
since  we  came.  Many  men  and  some  women  coming  in  on 
purpose  to  inquire  about  God,  and  many  places  round  are  cry¬ 
ing  out  for  teachers.  Mr.  Lowder  is  revising  his  vocabulary 
and  hymns  for  the  press.  My  little  Corona  typewriter  has 
been  very  useful.  Kingwana  has  never  been  defined  and  put 
into  print  before,  although  we  can  cross  Africa  with  it,  and 
it  is  an  excellent  language,  derived  from  Swahili  and  Arabic. 
It  will  be  splendid  to  have  it  in  print.  Mr.  Lowder  has  trans¬ 
lated  Matthew’s  Gospel  and  numbers  of  hymns,  and  will  do 
Luke  next  as  zee  have  Mark  and  John  in  Bangala.  The  other 
night  I  strolled  past  the  house  we  have  left  (we  are  all  in 
the  big  one  now,  8  rooms)  and  the  two  men  who  are  sleeping 
there  are  watchmen,  called  out  and  asked  me  to  come  and 
pray  with  them.  So  I  went  in.  Neither  of  them  knew  much 
Bangala.  It  is  remarkable  how  quickly  one  is  helped  to  pick 
up  these  languages.  I  do  want  to  do  translation,  too,  in  King¬ 
wana.  Bangala  has  no  attraction  in  that  way  for  it  is  so 
clumsy,  c.  g.,  Kingwana  has  possessive  pronouns  and  relative 
and  a  good  plural.  Bangala  has  neither,  and  then  Kingwana 
has  a  much  richer  vocabulary. 

With  care,  i.  c.,  proper  mid-day  rest,  etc.,  I  keep  very  fit 
here  at  Deti,  but  the  slightest  irregularity  of  hours  upsets  me, 
so  I’m  just  making  haste  slowly.  Doesn’t  it  seem  strange,  near 
the  end  of  November  we  are  just  nearing  our  hotter  season. 
Christmas  will  be  a  regular  roaster  I  expect.  1  do  thank  God 
for  all  your  prayers  and  love  at  home,  like  we  felt  in  France 
with  the  artillery  behind  us. 

*  *  * 

Deti  Hill,  November  30th. 

I  told  you  about  all  these  buildings  being  blown  down.  As 
a  consequence,  of  course,  I’ve  lots  of  work,  quite  out  of 
previous  calculations,  and  dwelling  places  being  of  primary 
importance,  I  am  making  a  big  tarabais  (workman’s)  house 
just  with  a  door  and  a  window  and  a  good  wide  verandah. 
This  is  my  first  personal  effort  at  building  and  being  landed 
with  a  lot  of  building  like  this  1  am  very  grateful  for  a  past 
course  at  the  Technical  College  on  building  construction,  for 
though  the  thing  is  so  different,  yet  questions  of  strength  and 
stress  are  the  same.  Then  I  helped  with  building  in  Nala  and 
so  gained  a  little  experience  there. 

In  a  way  I’m  sorry  to  have  so  much  to  do.  I  wanted  a 
quieter  time  for  study  of  Kingwana,  but  I  suppose  an  all- 


36 


around  missionary  must  always  be  crowded  out  with  work. 
There  is  so  much  varied  work  everywhere  one  turns,  but  1 
know  when  1  am  beginning  to  do  too  much  and  then  I  have 
to  pull  up  and  re-arrange  a  bit.  Just  lately  I  have  been  think¬ 
ing  much  of  how  perfectly  feeble  I  am,  when  I  read  all  the 
promises  of  Power  in  God’s  word  to  us.  Promises  like  Paul 
claimed — Ephesians  3:16-19.  Look  at  it,  ending  with  “that  ye 
might  be  filled  with  all  the  fullness  of  God.”  What  greater 
words  could  be  given,  and  how  to  attain  in  verse  17:  “That 
Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith,  not  a  weary  striving 
and  working,  but  by  simple  faith  for  all  occasions.  Out  here 
among  this  appalling  darkness  it  is  terrible  to  be  low  spiri¬ 
tually,  but  Oh,  how  T  praise  and  glorify  our  Wonderful  Father 
that  though  there  have  been  times,  Oh,  so  hard  and  difficult  to 
understand,  yet  all  along  He  has  been  a  real  and  a  present 
help,  and  it  hasn’t  been  long  before  I  have  seen  the  reason  for 
everything.  One  of  the  greatest  blessings  and  supports  in  one's 
work  is  a  God  given  love,  an  ovenchelming  love  for  these 
people.  Oh.  that  you  could  all  see  them,  some  of  them  here 
at  Deti,  men  not  long  ago,  two  or  three  years,  living  lives  of 
horrible  vice  and  degradation,  now  men  who  truly  know  God, 
and  with  whom  one  can  have  real  Christian  fellowship — such 
simple  souls,  like  big  children  and  some  affectionate  and  some 
faithful.  Of  course,  there  are  bitter  disappointments,  from 
different  causes,  too  often  through  pride  which  leads  to  every¬ 
thing  else,  as  it  caused  the  fall  of  the  Devil  himself.  My 
head  man  here  is  Gemisi,  an  ex-soldier,  a  big  fine  man,  a  little 
hasty,  but  sound  as  anything  underneath,  and  has  a  splendid 
wife.  They  both  read  and  write  and  teach  in  the  school. 
Then  a  very  dear  fellow,  Congo,  a  little  fellow  about  my  own 
size  and  age,  and  he  is  simply  fine.  I  hope  to  send  him  out 
as  an  evangelist  when  he  can  read  and  write.  He  is  longing 
to  go  now.  All  the  men  here.  I  have  about  20  on  the  place 
as  workers,  and  all  are  learning  to  read,  etc.  Most  of  them 
Christians  or  inquirers,  and  very  willing  workers  and  earnest 
in  their  school  work  .  I  take  school  in  the  afternoon  and  a 
rare  old  Babel  it  is.  Mbikoni  (whose  name  in  Kingwana  is 
Bingoi — heaven)  has  the  top  class,  then  Jugi,  another,  and 
other  school  boys  other  classes.  Gemisi  hops  around  and  tests 
them  occasionally  and  brings  them  to  me  to  pass  into  another 
class.  At  present  Pm  trying  to  rush  Congo  and  another  latent 
evangelist  on  alone.  They  will  soon  be  reading  Mark's  Gospel, 
so  I  have  them  alone.  Last  Sunday  a  very  strange  thing 
happened.  We  were  blest  with  a  horde  of  bug  grasshoppers. 
The  natives  love  them  to  eat — very  fat  and  juicy,  they  say. 
Early  in  the  morning  we  heard  the  appropriate  cries  for  such 


37 


an  occasion  and  the  news  soon  spread,  and  up  the  people  came 
from  all  around  the  hill  to  catch  their  Sunday  dinner  on  our 
estate.  When  the  crowd  was  really  good  we  beat  the  drum 
for  service  and  they  all  came,  quite  a  big  crowd,  and  the  way 
they  listened  was  quite  inspiring  to  us  all.  We  had  Mabudu 
hymns  and  the  address  interpreted  into  Mabudu.  They  were 
most  of  that  tribe  and  quite  a  large  number  stayed  afterwards 
to  ask  questions  and  hear  more.  So  the  Lord  can  use  a  multi¬ 
tude  of  grasshoppers  as  a  blessing  as  well  as  a  plague. 


READER— “HOW  SHALL  THEY  HEAR  WITHOUT 
A  PREACHER?  HOW  SHALL  THEY  PREACH  EX¬ 
CEPT  THEY  BE  SENT?”— ROMANS  10:14,  15. 


38 


THE 

WORLDWIDE  EVANGELIZATION  CRUSADE 

and 

HEART  OF  AFRICA  MISSION 


OBJECT 

The  Evangelization  of  every  part  of  the  Unevan¬ 
gelized  World  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  beginning 
with  the  Heart  of  Africa. 

* 

DOCTRINAL  BASIS 

1.  Absolute  Faith  in  the  Deity  of  each  Person  of  The 

Trinity. 

2.  Absolute  Belief  in  the  full  Inspiration  of  the  Old 

and  New  Testament  Scriptures. 

3.  Vow  to  know  and  to  preach  none  other  save  Jesus 

Christ  and  Him  crucified. 

4.  Obedience  to  Christ’s  command  to  love  all  who  love 

the  Lord  Jesus  sincerely  without  respect  of 
persons,  and  to  love  all  men. 

5.  Absolute  Faith  in  the  Will,  Power,  and  Providence 

of  God  to  meet  our  every  need  in  His  service. 


McAuliffe  &  Booth, Inc, 
263  West  126th  St. 
New  York 


